Svelte

Slime sense? Is that like spider sense? Does that mean slime shoots out of your - wait, actually, I don't want to know Slime Face is a cool fig, though As pustulous and dripping as his name suggests.

Very nice, I saw your elementals in your other post but didn't get around to commenting. I like them all, especially Light and Fire. The Rebel helmet works really well in a god-like context! Maybe with Fire those 1x2 plates with centre stud in bley look a bit out of place. Maybe the pearl gold version in the Indy Lost Tomb set (if you have it) would be a different choice in a warmer palate. Nice marble backdrop too! I look forward to seeing the next evolution of the elementals!

Sinner, weren't you going to post larger pics of your exhibition entry for us? I'm sure I read that somewhere. I can't find a post though, so maybe I'm just hallucinating Anyways, I'd like to see your stealth plane from a few different angles, and I'm sure others would too. Or were you saving this for the end of the contest?

Hahaha, it does too! And it walks quite well. Enough to freak out the cat, anyway. I bought this and have no regrets (I missed out on the old one but I'm slowly bleyifying anyway so don't mind). It is mainly a technic build but I think it looks good and I actually don't like the legs on the old ones anyway. There is also room for modding if you think they're too skinny on the new version via technic pins and plates. It isn't like the old one has a wonderful interior either and I hate those circular joint pieces they use to give the the thing knees. In other news... there is no news. Seriously, do we have to wait another 12 months for the craziness to begin again?

Yay for having a Eurobricks Ambassador! Thanks for letting us know what's going on, CopMike. I don't know if they'd email people though as they may not wish to draw attention to their mistake. They didn't do this with the Green Grocer Aus pricing mistake either, but I guess the difference there was that those sets weren't for preorders. It's such bad PR, TLC made the set of the year and had a lot of fans excited, but now they've put a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths by upping the price. Whether this will impact their sales remains to be seen.

I think it is all about the exterior with this one, the volcano-scaping is second to none and I agree with you about the movie angle! It definitely has a cinematic feel and the trans-orange would look great well-lit and shiny. Maybe Dr Inferno has anti-thermal underwear - or maybe the giant laser is heat-powered so it absorbs all the surrounding energy

I have to agree, when I've called them (only a few times in several years) the Lego sales staff here are nice, although they often have no idea what head office is doing

That's the best pic I have at the moment, apologies re blurriness. Snake, it is released in Oz in Sept, this baby came from S@H

$AUD99.99 is the full retail Australian price, as ordered from S@H. I think it is supposed to be an exclusive when released here in September, probably to TRU.

Theme: Agents Set Name: 8637 Volcano Base Piece Count: 738 Price: $AUD99.99; 49.99 GBP; EUR 69.99 Dr Inferno is a supervillain on the move. So far this year he's had a plethora of vehicles released but nowhere to call home. Thankfully with the advent of 8637 he finally has a lair to call his own. Featuring built-in thermal heating, the Volcano Base is warm and cosy all year round! It's also a tastefully themed pad in shades of trans orange, dark brown, orange and lime, although the interior decoration is a little lacking. For security reasons, the architect had to be thrown into the built-in firepit so as not to reveal the base's secrets, but join us on our leisure tour of the must-see anti-hero holiday house of 2008 - viva the Volcano Base! Part 1: From out of the box Front view: Back view: Manuals: Random instruction page: 2 x DSSs: Polybagged goodness: Parts unveiled! I love to swirl everything together in one big mess, it reminds me of how I built as a kid. BURPy-LURPy goodness - 5 large red brown ones and 4 of the smaller trans-orange ones. This set is a bonanza for landscaping . Part 2: Minifigs and Agents Jet Nothing new with the Agents and their confusing rhyming names - Agents Chase and Trace are obviously destined to be together and have several kids called Lace, Case and Mace. Agent Fuse sends most of his time in this set indulging in a little light bondage - see handcuffs - which is a nice change after the sexist Mission 4 had Agent Trace chained to the shark buoy. Good to see gender equality, TLC! Three villians - two new ones - the deadly Claw-Dette and Fire-Arm. It's always good to have another Dr Inferno, although compulsory arm-replacement seems to be a mark of loyalty to the great man, as all three figs here have the modified cyber-hands. Fire-Arm is a bit of a waste as the giant gun just looks ludicrous - but what do I know, after weeks of knowing about this fig, I only just got the pun 'fire-arm' = 'firearm' . Claw-Dette is a vision of loveliness, the Irina hair fits perfectly, and how wonderful that TLC has given us *another* female torso for this line. That's 2 female minifigs in a non S@H exclusive set! Worlds may implode! The new face is nice, with just a hint of lime green eyeshadow - now that's scary . The jet: I didn't like the jet from the pics, but the build is a fun one and it looks good. The technic axle, when pushed, releases a net. This function works better than I thought it would. On the box art they show this net dropping onto the villain controlling the fire-pit, but how tangling someone in a web is going to stop Agent Fuse from turning into Agent Flambe is beyond me. This is one of those rare situations when one of those Fire helicopters so beloved of the City designers would actually be useful! Underside showing net in position: Part 3: Volcano Day! This set has been one of the most anticipated of the year for me, mainly because of the great concept, well-executed design and wonderful landscaping. It is also a treasure trove for parts enthusiasts. Apart from the BURPs, there's 43 large dark brown slopes, 23 smaller dark brown slopes, 19 1x1 trans orange bricks, 45 small orange slopes, 13 trans orange cheese pieces and a smattering of metallic silver . The colours all work well together to form the rocky mountain sides and give a real depth and play of light to the set - I'm glad they released this in a year where we now have dark brown, as it wouldn't look nearly as good in all red-brown or with black instead. The colours are really textured, and the intricate cascading lava slopes add a real MOC feel to the set. It's hard to tell from the pics, but the lava flows that start in the midsection actually match up with the left and right 'wings' of the volcano when the base is closed up (see further below for pic). Indeed, this is one of those sets that actually looks good when photographed with an overbright flash as the trans-orange flares into life! (The rest of this review uses natural light though.) Closer view of the midsection: The front door is really well designed with metallic silver teeth (as seen on the box art for Turbocar Chase). They click neatly into place when closed. Behold above, the throne of Dr Inferno! Yes, it's in a bit of a weird spot. They could have at least elevated it so he could gloat *over* intruders. The interior is the weakest part of this set, as we shall see. Choc-orange lava goodness atop the midsection - so pretty: Behold, Dr Inferno's enormous.... laser cannon, naturally. He rides this baby like a pro . The lime green is an unusual colour choice but the bright, cartoony feel really adds to the set as a whole and is much better than a standard bley/ black type superweapon. Next season's look in devastating WMDs: hot pink! (Maybe.) And yes, it rotates 360 degrees: And because Batbrick wondered about it in another thread, here's a pic with the laser folded down. Hardly discreet. Maybe you don't notice it what with all the magma and steam and flames etc. View of the firepit side of the mountain. The part selection is really nice, notice the silver radar dish. The sticker control panel display has a countdown from 12 seconds. This connects to the firepit, with a little gliding platform to travel between the two: Notice the decals on the chairs - a classy touch. Kudos to Dr Inferno's upholsterer. There's some great detail in this set which I really appreciate. For example, the chairs are built on the base, which has 2 1x3 orange plates assymetrically arranged. You wouldn't even notice this, and there's no reason for it, it's just a quirly little design touch which adds to the build - see below. Note also, there's a 1x1 round lime green plate on the firepit mechanism - nowhere else does this element appear in the set, and they could have easily used some other colour, but it adds a nice touch that says the designers have really put in as much originality as they can. The right-hand side of the mountain (looking front on): Close-up of the oddly protruding giant flatscreen monitor. Maybe Dr Inferno has really bad eyesight but for vanity's sake won't wear glasses, hence the need for a giant plasma screen to help aim his laser cannon . Again, the lime green and orange works well. They don't show this on the box or instructions, but the 'wings' of the volcano can fold in for a more defensive, mountainous look: Part 4: Interior decorating Sadly, the interior is the weakest part of the set, with a sparse selection of goodies. What's there is also mostly stickered. Compared to the bright, light facade, the whole of this section is very industrial and dark. Over all view: Middle section, with throne and stickered display screens: The laser section does have 2 cool power cone type things, with trans neon green, dark blue and metallic silver detailing. Very retro sci-fi. The section behind the firepit has a control panel - with elevated chair! - and stickered screen: The other section doesn't have anything apart from a red tank. More spare room for dead bodies, I guess. Or treasure. Or back issues of 'Supervillain Monthly'. I don't know, TLC, couldn't you have put some empty new Indy crates back there, or something? The interiors are a bit sparse, but maybe it's just because the place is brand spanking new and Dr Inferno has only just moved in. To be honest, I don't mind this really as it gives you a lot of chance to customise in whatever way you want. I am already planning to transfer the interior section of my Seabase MOC somewhere to the Volcano Base, so Dr Inferno can chill out in style. Really, it looks as if the designers spent all the money on the exterior facade, but I have no real problem with that. The Mobile Command Center has a wonderfully detailed interior, but the whole set is based around the truck whereas this is really just a cool looking base with a stonking great laser on top and a firetrap. For $AUD99.99 ($30 less than the Mobile Command Center) I'd rather pay less and buy another copy of this set to do some serious volcano landscaping anyway. On that score, the Volcano Base can not be beat! Part 5: In Conclusion This is a great set. Buy it! Buy several! For a retail release not aimed at AFOLs, the level of landscaping could not be nicer. This means that the Volcano Base midsection may look a little low, but it does add opportunity for clever MOCers to build astounding, enormous creations which dwarf the original. The whole volcano wall design is really a template for people to build bigger and better volcanoes! As a playset, it is let down by the lack of detailed interior, but at this pricepoint I don't mind. The figs are good, Claw-Dette especially is great and the part selection is amazing. Leftover parts: Final view: Thank you and enjoy!

In Aus, the MT Armored Drilling Unit was an exclusive to K-Mart, not TRU. I wouldn't assume that the Ultra-Drill is a TRU exclusive as lots of of different Aussie retailers have exclusives - just not the same ones .

Sorry, i meant uniform for europe/ uk/ rest of the world, as those prices all were released and then changed at the same time. The US exists in a parallel universe for prices anyway! Apologies for any confusion.

We had the Cybermen 'dancing' in series 2 when their emotional inhibitors bit the dust so the Daleks deserve a chance to show their moves. I actually liked it when one of them was idly shoved down a side corridor - shades of the old series. That K9 series looks awful. The design is just wrong. And it's an Aussie coproduction with live action and a CGI K9 - the levels of wrongness begin to multiply. Maybe we can just pretend it's taking place in the Turn Left universe or somewhere equally doomed

I loved it. So many threads wrapped up and I'd avoided spoilers, so a few surprises as well. I loved the three different versions of the Doctor, I was hoping each of them would have a special in 09 and then maybe they'd tie them together at the end of the year before Series 5. Catherine Tate was excellent and her Tennant imitation was spot on. Captain Jack had something substantial to do (unlike last year's finale) and everyone else had at least one moment to shine. I know a lot of fans have complained about it, but it was fun, brash, exciting and it was good to see so many references from the start of the new series carried through. I even loved the DS type spacestation as it least we weren't on Earth again and for once it looked like they threw some money at the show. The Daleks were a bit disappointing though - one shot and the Supreme Dalek blasted! Not cool. They're back to their cannon fodder days.

I agree, the lower price was uniform across all countries (whereas the Green Grocer cheaper price was just for Aus) and the increase is uniform as well. There's no way that the pricing department would have made such a huge blunder across ALL countries outside the US. How long has this been available for order? Just over a week? It's very strange. Maybe it's some new method of gauging interest at various pricepoints. I can see that massively increasing the price for those that didn't order early is going to annoy a lot of AFOLs - whether that deters SW fans from buying it I'm not so sure.

It seems to me this is as good as confirmation gets short of a press release from TLC or leaked pics of forthcoming sets. I'm no Pirate expert, but are we definitely sure these are new figs? It could be that for Volume 2 of Classic Minifigs (or whatever it's called) TLC has manufactured a whole bunch of piratey accessories and extras, whether this is leading to a whole new line or not. Ít's possible that some of these may have found their way into this selection along with other figs from the latter part of 08. I mean, from Vol 1 we've seen the classic red spaceman, old skool fireman and Dr Frankenstein, and I haven't seen news that they'll be appearing in 09... yet

It was the 'nom nom nom' chewing gestures that confused me, but you are right about the price

I saw absolutely masses of Town Plans at Myer today, about 10 Eiffel Towers and a lot of the Cargo train set. Laybyed an Eiffel tower - the box is normal sized, thank the Lord - it will look Sinner, if you're desperate for a 10179 you could try and order it through the online catalogue - maybe they have back stock somewhere or are warehousing it. Worth trying, maybe. When it comes to Lego, to coin a phrase, promises made to spouses have no validity.

i only saw one millennium falcon, but it was in that secure area where they do refunds from at the front - and i was there pretty early. they were doing a fair amount of promotion though, there was a full-page print about that specific set at the layby counter (handy place for it at $775!) so i assumed they must have had some stock and maybe you had to ask for it. was also nice to see the kmart staff running around in Lego themed t-shirts!

That's hilarious. Won't somebody please think of the children? Can anyone post a pic for those of us who don't get this mag?

you're the only one to notice agent trace's remark about cindy so far maybe she was just in character? on the other hand, i like to think she's a modern woman. it's up the reader to decide! and in reply to a query of batbrick's, yes, the seaplant design is mine. i really like it - simple and effective. when this MOC bites the dust i'll probably keep the seaplant around

This was a tough, tough call but I eventually picked Oky Wan for best MOC, even though Batbrick's massive temple is probably more aesthetically pleasing. What I really liked about Oky Wan's MOC was its originality - in choice of colours, parts and overall execution, it was very different to all the other entries and really stood out as being different and bold. However I liked Batbrick's story more as it seemed movie appropriate and I thought his 'pitch' was suitably tension inducing so he got my vote there. Good work, everyone!

i'm working from home today - i get to do that, very occassionally. i just made sure today was one of the occasions! there's a kmart close by but the nearest big w is miles away - i wanted to get some castle stuff so had to make a trek. in sydney anything good tends to sell out in the first day or two in the big sales so i like to get in early if i can. i was thinking of stopping off at TRU on the way home but decided not to - typical and i agree re the Peril in Peru stickers - especially since they seem to be the transparent kind and show through quite badly. i was initially excited by Peril in Peru but there's too much stuff all out at once and it can wait.

Thanks for all your comments guys, and to Sinner for the contest. It was really fun. Good luck to everyone and don't forget to vote!

Toys R Us has a new catalogue just up - they're advertising Peril in Peru for $10 off, $89.99. Too late, TRU! My sale dollars have been allocated! Hope everyone does well today. I got what I wanted and am looking forward to the Myer sale tomorrow. Was a bit disappointing to see one obvious scalper couple piling AT-ATs and Police Stations into their trolley, but at 8am everyone else looked like suburban mums stocking up for Xmas which is as it should be!