Svelte

Interesting that they've brought back this part instead of using the regular windshield that they've used in City/ Creator sets for the last few years: Maybe a sign of things to come for the new Space Police line? It was often a feature of classic Space sets... EDIT: I do notice that it does look a little different though. Interesting. New mould then, or have I missed something?

I saw Jungle Cutter clearanced at K-Mart for $65 yesterday, but it seems clearance items are different at each store. I sold a few extra Indy sets on ebay recently due to space clearing/ raising cash for Xmas presents and was amazed how quickly they went - Race for the Stolen Treasure went within minutes and I didn't even think it was that popular a set. Obviously there's still demand out there. As for product life... I feel sorry for the little kids wandering around looking for things like the King's Castle Siege who can't find them anywhere. I understand parents are reluctant to shell out for big ticket items until they need to, but it probably doesn't help that Lego prints an image of 7094 on everything from the smallest Impulse set to the whole front of the Advent Calendar . I guess stores are happier as product doesn't sit on their shelves for too long and new items are always coming in. I've read on other toy websites that David Jones warehouses differently which is why they seem to have more consistent stock. They often hold back their stock until their special sales start (eg Volkswagen, Green Grocer) rather than putting it on shelves early (eg all the 2007 Exo-Force sets I saw around Myer a month before their most recent sale started). That's probably why they have a more even spread of City stuff as well when everyone else seems to sell out.

Go the Turbochase - woo! Lots of metallic silver parts and the Spyclops chopper is a way cooler helicopter than the CG one too. But then, I thought CG was a really weak line. Also, as you pointed out, no large Agents set in next year's catalogue probably means restocks are limited. Speaking of the catalogue... I finally got mine yesterday and it looks like things to stock up on during the sales from 08 that won't be around for too long are: - Creator Beach House - All Indy 08 sets (if you still can find 'em) - SW first half of 08 sets - City Mail Van - CG platform and the large Unimog - Castle Dwarves Mine and Dwarves Mine Defender (This doesn't include Technic and Bionicle sets as my knowledge is limited ) It's interesting that Belville will still be around although no new sets are planned for 09. Looks like Lego has reduced their product life cycle for many things - it used to be two years but for some sets it's now around 6 months. Maybe they're producing more variety but less of each individual production run.

Thanks for the review. This is probably the only set I'll pick up from this line (but then, I always say that... god help me!) I love the new wheel and drill parts and the functionality sounds cool. I hope they produce the new parts in white as they'd make excellent icicle parts for snowy Xmas MOCs I agree with Yeeow that it does look a bit bare without the stickers which is a shame They never went away... they've just been hiding in Exo-Force. Clearly nobody's been buying EF sets and that's why it went down the drain With the mining focus meets the combinable mech thing, that's why I think this line is a Mars Mission/ Exo-force lovechild.

It's always good to get another review! I know you've been looking forward to this one too The comparison pics are especially interesting between the new figs and parts and old ones. I never realised you could attach a minifig to the new shark that way. I'm so slow I think once more Pirates fans get their hands on it, their opinions of the set will improve. There's a lot of good stuff here and even the cannons can be easily added by getting the smaller sets. However I'm amazed the seller didn't pack this in a box, especially for international shipping! I'd be cross.

Interesting - I wonder if this will be a wide release or is it another airline promo set? It says CITY and has the logo from the 06 airplane line...

I'm sure Sinner has a copy of this set and isn't ashamed to admit it He may be able to give us a detailed review.

I don't think it is a mistake. I remember when it first came out at Big W the Chopper started at the $48 price point. Just a special price like the Police Station at various stores.

My parents didn't have a lot of money, so I normally only got smaller sets and sometimes a medium sized one. I do remember begging and pleading for this set though. It was on sale so it was more affordable, but even so it took up most of my Christmas buget and Santa didn't bring much else. I didn't care though It's a fantastic modular design, cleverly brick-built and still holds up today. There's so much interior space and it's airtight! Some of the MM stuff is OK but the problem with the more recent Space lines and a lot of the SW sets are they are all wings and surface with little or no interiors apart from the cockpit. The Cosmic Fleet Voyager not only had a spacious interior, it also had a detachable lab section and all the interiors connected logically and had their own airlock systems. It was very swooshable although the top detailing did tend to fall off. I will be very keen to see what 09 brings with its theme, though to be honest I was never into Space Police originally. There are enough Police in Lego sets as it is! Police in Space is just over-egging the pudding As for this year... Now that I'm a big boy I've bought my own special Santa present which just arrived in the post this morning. Can't wait to open this one either as I think it's a modern classic in its own right.... Who could disagree?

Thanks for the review. It's a nice idea for City army builders (can there be such a thing?) but I don't really like any of the figs apart from the female's tan ponytail hair. I am sick of policemen and his head and bearded guy are probably my least favourite male head-prints out of the current minifig range They really need to add some new generic City minifigs - they've done great things in the licenced themes, Agenst and Castle - why not here too? I don't know, maybe if the road signs were printed I'd feel differently... Still, I applaud the change in direction and hopefully it will sell like hotcakes!

Catwoman. Great headgear, sexy outfit. It's Catwoman, baby! Poison Ivy was a close second for the great torso and the dark red hair. The Joker was a great fig too.

Natelite, you're in Chatswood right? You're practically down the road from the Lego Australia office! You could probably get one from there! Next time DJs, TRU or Myer has a sale, look out for the Lego Club membership offer - as said above, usually you spend so much and get the $14.95 membership free. This includes a mag 4 times a year but also the Jan and June catalogues which don't always appear in store - I never saw the second half 08 one anywhere around Syd. If you're lucky, you also get free gifts like Lego gift tags this year or a small promo set last year. It's worth joining. Over a year I usually collect 3 or 4 or more offers to join so if anyone needs them I can sign them up in future... I don't have any at the moment but will post in this thread when I do. EDIT: I see Mr Legois has answered the question, but the membership offer will stand if I get extras in future

Thanks very much for posting those dates, DL. My catalogue didn't come today after all I really want the Farm and Indy sets so looks like I will be making a S@H order in early Jan. And of course there's the Medieval Market set too That is so weird about Pirates. I think someone said in Europe they will be around in May? If so I would have expected them to be here. And they were in the leaked European catalogue ages ago as well... Sob... It's Castle 08 all over again. Makes me feel better about getting them from the States though if I'd have to wait 6+ months for them to be in stores.

Wise and mystical Darth_Legois, please post the release dates of next Jan-June sets here. I am guessing most of the SW and Creator stuff is in Jan, but what about the two IJ sets and Construction and Farm? I could care less about Power Miners, to be honest. And no Pirates in the first half of the year! I can't believe it! Are there any other exclusives listed in the catalogue or anything else we haven't yet heard about?

Woo! I'm hoping I get mine today. Shiny new 09 catalogue Even better - release dates for the next 6 months.

20. Capt. Kirk - Walk the plank, you scabby dog 21. Nich Artri - Fishing With Envy and Greed 14. Erdbeereis1 - Murder In The Market! Capt. Kirk's entry took first place for me as I liked how the classic Eldorado colour scheme was adapted and the scale of detail enlarged to a more MOCtacular level, whilst retaining the basic principles - yellow/ white, palm trees, the figs. Special mention to the white detailing using the modified plates and the use of yellow technic bricks to simulate bullet holes! I also thought the idea of Pirates invading land and forcing the Governor of a plank in his own fort was very clever! I would love to see a full size upgrade of the Eldorado Fortress done in a similar style A very elegant and precise entry, with extra marks for clarity of expression in the build and final photography. I ranked Nick Actri second as the idea was a good one and it was well-executed (excuse the pun). A deceptively simple MOC as it can be hard to balance several different elements together without losing focus on the overall composition of the vignette. The rocks, sea creature and the baited fig were all excellent touches and I got a very clear sense of the movement and story of the scene. I love the way the Captain's hat is tilted as he looks down to make sure his plan succeeds! Erdbeereis1 had another great entry. It was the level of detail here that really impressed, from the lovingly displayed food items above the market, to the scattered petals and the horrified figs! The intestines and suchlike were very gory - I won't be looking at hotdogs the same way for a whole I also liked the secret sewer lair of the Pirates - they're very nonchalant and relaxed, confident the useless Imperials will never look for them there. When 10193 Medieval Market comes out I would like to see Erdbeereis re-envision the whole thing with the chaos and bloodshed on display here As others have mentioned, in some ways this was harder to judge than the small division so I have lots of special mentions for: Paul Cantu - I liked the facade and the prison bars, but the mixed old grey/ new grey detracted from it for me. The waves were very unique and nicely done too. Sir Nadroj almost needs no extra mention - some excellent technique, especially with the brown corner posts, but the idea wasn't quite cruel enough by PTV standards of villainy, and the first pic didn't really show it off to its best advantage. I don't think he has anything to worry about in the large division though I Scream Clone - a small ravine on a 16x16 base? Hard to do but cleverly done and I love secret Pirate coves and hideouts.

Great topic, TheBrickster! Since I live in Australia where Xmas happens in summer and the temperatures are usually in the 30 degrees plus, I've always liked the idea of a cool white Christmas! In terms of wintery sets, I think this one has an underrated baseplate and some nice pieces in (rare) trans medium blue. The baseplate is the same as for King Leo's Castle and the Dragon Fortress, just in a different colour with a different print. I only recently got a copy of this set (it was never released in Australia at a retail level) and this year for a Xmas theme I've put one of your other picks - a 4756 Shrieking Shack, which seems evocative of a Swiss chalet - on top of the hill and added a few landscaping details so as I open the City and Castle advent calendars the figs (and their accessories) have somewhere to frolic. I may take a few pics of the WIP and post them in a little while.

I noticed that the big Sydney Myer was devoid of Indy sets as well. Completely empty! But it had heaps of every other new set. I wonder if that's the end of the first wave release of Indy sets. Myer did have 25% off Indy a few months ago and I remember reading that NZ had a 50% off Speed Racer & IJ clearance sale a while back. Pirates Month has addled poor Darth_Legois' mind and he is seeing cannons everywhere!

The alien harvesting is old news I think they mean 7090:

I don't think Troll Assault is that great. It has some nice pieces and the big sand-green Troll but it's really just a re-jigged version of the Viking catapult from a few years ago.

I got the Claw Tank ambush set as part of the Myer clearance. It is a sweet set! Lots of nice parts, well designed, good functionality, and the tank treads have those little rubber technicy things attached so the treads can climb uphill. Looks good too. I don't think MM was marketed very well; it wasn't until I looked at the instructions for the Eagle Command Base that all the other sets are supposed to connect to the big main set - and the trans-orange tubes on the smaller sets are designed to connect to the Eagle pump travel system for alien/ energy crystal collection and transportation. It really is clever and neat - you send out the smaller vehicles for foraging/ raids etc but they all converge on the base. If you just buy the smaller sets first, you just think 'why have they got so many of these useless trans-orange parts?' but they do make sense in the theme overall; it just isn't obvious from the back of the box pics for Eagle Command Base! EDIT: how the base is *supposed* to work (from the instructions)

I like the new colours - I think epaulettes and especially the new spyglass piece look much better in pearl gold than they would in yellow. It's good to see the new dark brown around as well. I really like the navy blue/ white scheme of the Imperial boats as well - it looks very smart. The cutlasses do look horrendously cheap in dark bley though - but they should go for metallic silver rather than pearl silver. There may be an issue with production though as I think metallic pieces are only coated with the colour rather than being solid all the way through, so weapons would probably show wear relatively quickly.

Pirates, by definition, sail the high seas. The new printed map has a river and a couple of pondy areas but it doesn't really suggest the ocean-going life. Still, it's OK I guess. It would have been nice to have a new print.

The fee depends on the store - $3 K-Mart, $5 Myer, $10 DJs It is NOT like credit - you do not incur interest. I think the layby model actually pre-dates credit cards! The fee is just an admin one. The idea is that you put a deposit, and then over a 10 or 12 week period make regular fortnightly payments until you have finished off the balance - then you can pick the goods up. If you change your mind within that period you can cancel and they will refund your payments in full minus the layby admin fee.

you get everything back except for the lay-by fee, unless you don't pay at all and they cancel it for you! layby is great, it's good at sale time if, like me, you're like a dazed deer in the discount headlights and there's too many shiny boxes with $$$ off and you're not sure what you actually want (or can afford). in the end, if you decide to cancel something, you're only losing a small amount. the mid-year sales usually have a promotion where you can layby until Xmas rather than the 12 week period, so those wanting to pay off that 10179 Millennium Falcon can do it in lumps rather than all at once. indeed, i wouldn't be surprised if a few big ticket items such as the Falcon reappear on store shelves after Xmas from people who've changed their mind or have fallen behind in the lay-by payments. this sometimes explains the sudden reapparance and/or battered condition of the larger UCS sets at DJs/ Myers as they may have been through the sale/ layby/ return mill a few times