Svelte

The new waistbag is VERY flexible - it's very soft plastic, it may even be same as used the whip (which although you may not have the fig, you've probably seen pics of in action.) It's also a hollow facade with front detail only - there is no solid back.

Yep, in Aus, hollisbrick. Apparently they're in Target as well.

Marketing, probably, since they're focused on Kingdom at the moment and the figs etc were presumably in the same production batch as the earlier Crystal Skull sets.

Interestingly, as Tacitus noted above, the design of the door on the Volcano Base matches almost *exactly* the one at the top of the hill on the box art for 8634 Turbocar Chase, although the rest of the hill it's based on looks a little different (laser turret different colour). PS Hinckley, whung alerted me to the fact that there may be new pics of sets by finding the new coastguard set 4210 - which should also be frontpaged IMO! -, but I found these on the Lego site and posted them all on my lonesome

Better pic of the new 8636 sub! Not fair as the first wave hasn't even been released in most of the world yet! 8637 Volcano base!

Wow, whung, those pics are great - thanks! Definitely the biggest and the best of the Coastguard sets. Makes me feel better about not getting the Coastguard tower as it looks sort of similar in this one. And for once a base set that could actually use a helicopter, seeing as it's located in the middle of the ocean .

Was the colour of the mould grey?

I think maybe there's a bit of Star Wars excitement on the front page which has probably got a few members frothing with excitement. Not every review needs to be frontpaged anyway .

I got this yesterday and built it this morning. Apart from the figs, it is very crappy. Mr Freeze's buggy is OK but the bat buggy is easily the worst vehicle I've seen for years. Colours are all over the place, the grappling hook feels cheaply made, the inclusion of those odd pearl silver parts which have been in the Exo-Force sets seem especially random here, the terrible Bionicle flame piece... It's the first Lego vehicle I've built where I've immediately had the urge to disassemble it and pretend I never bought it! Really, I only got it for Mr Freeze so I shouldn't complain. But still. It's a real step backwards. The comparable Catwoman dragster set was heaps better. The Penguin sub is sweet though Thanks for the review anyway!

Your Doctor Who figs are great Mr Spielbrick I'm not so sure about the Eccleston torso though... his leather jacket is very plain with no detailing, and Mutt's is more like a biker's - lots of zips and pockets etc. Tennant is perfect though! Maybe for Martha you could customise one of the NBA sports heads - you could maybe find a face which is OK where you could just remove the 'masculine' details. There are threads in the Minifig customisation section about how to remove the print from bricks. At worst you could use the standard red-brown grin head from Slave I as a 'generic' head.

Thanks for the great review, brickbitz . Seems like the UK is doing well when it comes to stock appearing early on shelves! As to the set itself, it seems a mixed bag. The figs themselves seem a wasted opportunity though I guess as an exclusive they're not going to fork out too much for a new design. The dark green truck is nice but rather than have all the (repeated) accessories and the sword holder I would have rather had a basic interior. Keeping the price down again I guess. The plane itself looks a little odd without the stickers applied, though I guess this can be modded. However any negatives must be outweighed by the fact we have a decent-sized brick-built plane . I actually like the 2006 Passenger Plane but it is nice to see wings made from lots of pieces rather than one enormous piece. It's actually surprising that it's taken this long since so many of the SW sets have large wing sections made of smaller pieces.

Yeah, I was trying to avoid buying any of these, but the build of the ferry does look like fun. I almost think I'll get this over the Coast Guard tower. And I love the caravan. When was the last time we had a proper Lego caravan?? Not so keen on the Steggy though.

Thanks for the great and very detailed review. I love the new holostickers! I'm still not sold on this set though. I'm not sure why... I think it's the big wing piece and the too-technicy build (from looking at the instructions). The platform seems kind of out of place. And for the size of the set, the functionality doesn't seem as good as it could be. It reminds me of 7699 Armored Drilling Unit - looks impressive but doesn't seem to do that much. I do think Mars Mission has improved this year though. Bar none, this is the weakest of the new MM sets I think.

Just to let the Aussies (and Batbrick ) know that I saw Bat-sets in David Jones today: 7884 - Batman's Buggy: Escape of Mr Freeze - $17.99 7885 - Penguin Sub - $34.99 7886 - The Batcycle: Harley Quinn's Hammer Truck - $49.99 No sign of the Tumbler set though.

I checked Myer and DJs for sales at lunch and no dice. However, I did notice the new Batman sets for sale at David Jones 7884 - Batman's Buggy Mr Freeze - $17.99 7885 - Penguin Sub - $34.99 7886 - The Batcycle: Harley Quinn's Hammer Truck - $49.99 No sign of the Tumbler so far.

6683 Hamburger Stand, because it's the only one I own, although Pizza to Go is probably a better design. The sticker is holding up relatively well after all these years as well . I also like the simple yellow, black, blue design of 6683 - neat to have the through-line of blue in the middle of the wall. I think it still integrates well in current City as a simple burger stand, even in these lofty days of massive modular houses and such.

The plane is a nice build, I'm not sure why people seem a little disappointed that the interior is a little cramped - especially when many AFOLs don't like the super-large Passenger/ Cargo planes for example. For something this size it seems reasonable to me. It is still larger than the 'classic' planes in that it can fit more than one row of chairs one behind the other! I think it's a nice compromise between the large moulded sets and a brick-built design. The little dark green vehicle is great too .

Only from S@H so far, or if you buy sets which they come in. All the ones you need (apart from one additional small motor) are available in the 4958 Monster Dino set (which I got half price). I ordered the extra from S@H at the same time I bought the set - but only because I had already looked at the instructions and knew what I needed. (If people have the Ferris Wheel set as well I think the small motor comes in that.)

The Spider-Droid looks great, I love Episode II style sets. The Twilight I can live without, I think, although I loved the B-wing build. As said above, there's way too many expensive SW sets coming out in a relatively short space of time. I think they could have spaced out the releases better, rather than releasing the (majority of) cheaper ones in January. I'll wait to see prices as well. Still, there's obviously a market for all these sets or Lego wouldn't be releasing them, and they're probably timed to be on shelves in the lead up to the Christmas rush.

Good spotting! I don't think anyone has reported on them yet. Anyone Aussies have news of what's on sale in the David Jones/ Myer stocktake sales which started last night?

No, you didn't miss anything. There's only one, and it's the less obtrusive new piece The range is pretty poor, though .

7645 - MT-61 Crystal Reaper Piece count: 600 Price: $AUD79.95, 49.95 Euros (in most countries), 39.99 GBP, USD 49.99 It's happened in the wider world, and it had to happen to Lego - yes, the 80s are back. Space invaders, holograms, compulsory seat-belt wearing legislation, and the return of classic Space. Ok, we don't have a fully fledged classic space theme back yet, but if 7645 is the way of the future, I think Lego is ready to do it properly. I wasn't a huge fan of last year's Mars Mission sets and only picked up a few on clearance, but this set is light years (excuse the pun) ahead of 2007's offerings. This mining vehicle is solid, compact, and well-designed. It looks impressive, and even better, it has fantastic Power Functions operability! Behold 7645 - MT-61 Crystal Reaper! (PS I wasn't joking about the holograms or seat belts.) Part 1: Box, Instructions, DSSs (Dreaded Sticker Sheets), Parts Front of box: Back of box: 2 x instruction booklets: DSS numero uno - for the Reaper DSS number two - apologies for the blurry pic but I wanted to capture the sweet shimmy of the metallic holographic background on this sheet The way it catches the light really makes a difference to the small alien craft and makes it look much more interesting from the plain stickers of last year. There's heaps of spare silvery stuff once the stickers are applied for those who use the leftover sticker material for customising. Parts bags - 4 numbered with one extra with larger pieces Parts everywhere - woo! I know the Lego instruction books scold me if I mix bags, but I'm a devil-may-care kind of guy. In your face, TLC. I love mixing all the parts together before I build, it reminds me of my youth when the days were long, anything was possible, and I didn't need strict instructions not to build on grass or poke my eye out with a technic shooter. Interesting parts - these may or may not be new, my technic knowledge is not that detailed. The little scoop parts are so cute and have a heap of potential uses. I love 'em. They're like Smurf hats at Miniland scale. These technic wheel things in orange are also cute. They kind of remind me of marigolds. Giant Fabuland marigolds! The track pieces - you get 70 of these - here's the section of track for one side - as you can see it's about 52 studs long. These hold together better than the small ones on the Hailfire Droid/ Jungle Cutter. Part 2: Minifigs, small mining transport, alien ship I have to confess - I forgot to take an individual snap of the astronauts . It's the usual bunch though - Scaredy Face guy, Sunglasses in Space Man and a third one I can't remember. You don't really care, though? You're only interested in the alien commander and his matching arms/ legs combo deal. As brickbitz noted in his review of the smaller set, the glowy eye is just a 1x1 cylinder. The set also comes with 2 normal jellies - one pictured here for size. You'll see what happened to the other one soon enough... The alien craft is nothing exciting, apart from the gorgeous glinting stickers. Here's the road safety angle. The commander actually clips onto a 1x2 plate with handle so he can't fall out! Then the lime tentacle thing descends on top of him to keep him firmly there, like a baby seat. Not very brave for an alien commander, is he? I mean, did Darth Vader ever use a seatbelt? Tssk. With cradle up: This part of the build also includes the small astronaut mining buggy - small and effective. (Please note in this build I've applied stickers to everything bar cockpit pieces.) This comes with radio and saw piece. Part 3: The Reaper! The first part of the build is the detachable shuttle. I really like the retro aesthetic of this with the angled wings and the side hoverpod things. It is much better than the comparable vehicle from 7699. The new flickfire piece is a waste of space - it's fairly limp. I prefer the simple flickfire technic pin to be honest. There's also a very nice little side workshop as you can see. I really like how the control unit is 'plugged' into the wall via 5 1x1 round plates (third pic, it's a bit dark). Great detail. [The technic pins on the back are there to connect the Power Functions battery box. It's odd they're included at this stage of the instructions - maybe the intention was to release it originally with all the necessary motors etc but the price point was too high and they scaled it back] The base. The shuttle sits on that bley technic axle in the middle when the Reaper is fully assembled. The little vehicle scoots down the ramp at the rear, which folds up to hold it in place when the Reaper is in motion. You can see there's a crystal container here as well - another nice small detail which I found the 2007 sets lacked. There's also an alien here - thankfully not in those horrendous trans-orange tubes so prevalent last year. The complete assembly. Isn't it snug? It's just the right size too - not massive but large enough to be a serious mining vehicle. The ominous black treads contrast nicely with the white/ orange colour scheme of the vehicle itself. The trans detailing - blue for weapons, neon green for energy - is carried nicely through the whole set. The blades and the scoops whirl nicely as the machine trundles along. Top down view: Tread detail: Whirling blades of death! The buggy descends: Probably the most disturbing aspect of the whole set is this pic: The jelly has an orange pump plugged into its heart which is connected to an energy supply on the left hand side! This vehicle runs on alien jelly juice! Either that or it's milking the jelly in some equally disturbing fashion. How amoral is that! I know there's been debate about this - the jellys aren't innocent, they're evil energy crystal thieving maniacs etc - but I find it a bit odd that the humans respond by chaining the jelly up to the bowels of their mining vehcile and suck energy from its heart. People debate about violence in Lego as represented by realistic minifig weapons, but I think the moral lesson here is even worse - it's OK to exploit foreign life forms for our own gain if they treat us badly first! (Who-fans, I think the Ood should have a word with the jelly Commander ) That aside, this set is well-designed and fairly good value at $AUD79.95. It's definitely a notch above last year's Mars Mission sets overall, with improved detailing and more useful functions. The holo-stickers are fab and it's nice to have an alien commander, even if he is a bit bulky and his fingers are identical to his toes. However, if all these reasons by themselves weren't reason to recomend this set, the following is.... Part 4: Power Functions The best part of this set - and the reason I bought it, really - is the integration of Power Functions. Bizarrely this isn't mentioned at all on the box and I only found out about it from the instructions when they were posted on Eurobricks! (Instructions for book 2 which has the Power function stuff available here.) This is a great idea and hopefully we will see more new sets take this kind of approach (especially with the new Train sets). Luckily I got Monster Dino 4958 on sale for half price earlier this year so already had most of the necessary motors etc - the only one needed was an extra small one. What you need is listed in the instructions below with redirections to Shop @ Home to buy the motors. Note there's actually a mistake on this page. The 2 small motors you need are both 8883 not 8882 (which is the large XL motor). Way to confuse the kids there, Lego! Attaching them was a dream and only took a few minutes (In contrast to 4958 where it was almost impossible to remove motor elements without dismantling the model). Basically the back platform and some plates and orange slopes come off, you attach the motors, and then the smaller plates go back on. These parts are now left loose: Overall the look of the Reaper isn't badly effected as you're mainly viewing from the front anyway: Sadly I can't show you how it moves, you'll just have to trust me that it does ! The way it is steered is demonsrated in the instruction pages above. Basically each motor is controlled by a corresponding switch on the remote. Move them both forward to move forward, move one right to turn right, move both back to move back etc. It zips along! It's a speedy little thing! Personally I wouldn't want to be in it's path as it comes roaring down the Martian canyon! (My cat was scared as it was.) It is oodles of fun and definitely worth trying if you have the motors or can get them cheaply, and adds a whole new dimension to the 'play' aspect of 'playset'. It is also as I said very quick to switch between modded and non-modded Reaper in contrast to the more fiddly Dino creations. The only problem I had is that if it moves too fast, the weight of the battery box at the back tends to pull the whole thing back and it rears up. It does correct itself though. I only trialled this on carpet last night so it may behave differently on other surfaces - I will need to experiment! Part 5: Summation This is a great set made even better with the addition of Power Functions. At $AUD79.95 it's well-priced. Buy it! Buy the motors as well (K-Mart still has stock of 4958 at $89, wait for a 15% off sale)! You won't regret it. Buy 2 and make competing battle machines! The only thing is... just don't torture that poor jelly

Building instructions for Cool Convertible, Stegosauras and Transport Ferry are now up at S@H. I won't post all the links as there's too many books! Click here for the Lego building instruction site.

Looky here: Book 1 Book 2

I did it last night and it's great! I used the power function things from the Monster Dino Creator set and one extra small motor from S@H. It is the best use of power functions I've seen so far and it's such a great idea to integrate these into new sets. Oddly they don't seem to plug this on the box though. It zips along and steers well - the only problem is that the battery box is so heavy that if it goes too fast it tends to tip backwards - but I was running it on carpet - I don't know if this makes a difference. Totally fun and functional.