Svelte

It makes me think that either TLC or retailers are not really supporting the Castle line - things are out in sporadic bursts with no real impetus to get the whole line (cf with Indy 4, for example, where all the sets really work well together as one mega-set). TLC sets release dates but they're all over the place. And some things don't get restocked, eg people have had problems finding King's Castle Siege. Hopefully 2009 will see a more coordinated approach - most other lines have simultaneous releases of linked products - why not Castle? I don't think it builds anticipation as most casual buyers have no idea what is released when anyway - if anything it just annoys people because they can't find the sets featured in the current release's instruction manuals. I also don't see how it makes commercial sense for Lego to manufacture large quantities of Castle 08 sets in February and then warehouse them for 8 months!

I haven't noticed any issue with legs, but in the recent Speed Racer sets and the Indy 4 sets, I have noticed an issue with minifig heads - with some of them (not all), once placed on the torso are fixed really, really tightly and became extremely difficult to turn or remove. Surprising as other ones in these sets work just fine.

That is amazing and beautiful. I love the rockpools and the bird's nest is genius in its simplicity.

The 2008 Spongebob sets finally available from S @ H - Rocket Ride and Bikini Bottom Express. So cute, have been waiting for these to appear for ages!

Thanks for all your feedback guys. Belloq, thanks for that info - I haven't seen the new trailer, only the teaser. That would be an interesting way to enter the temple if it's underground. I guess then the objective is to make their way down. I don't understand where all those plants are getting their sunlight though Asuka, I kind of agree with your view on the vehicle. Yes, it's a little odd but in the end I'm glad they allocated more resources to the building of the temple, rather than a larger vehicle with less detailed building. trooperdavinfelth I know the casing is a little tight and I'm planning to rebuild it, but I still think it's kind of annoying. I'm a relatively experienced builder and it still didn't really make sense to me, god knows what small kids are going to make of it! The inclusion of the rubber parts to stop the 'ears' bouncing too hard is a thoughtful touch though! Athos, I agree the design isn't perfect but I think the basic layout is OK and it definitely can be modded. Not every set can be an instant classic even in these enlightened Lego times! hollisbrick I got these from Target on Tuesday, David Jones had the 2 middle sets yesterday. By this weekend I expect pretty much everyone will have them. Nikola, maiq_the_liar & alexandertam And yes, my cat is cute. She usually likes to sit on the bricks when I'm building though. I think she gets jealous not enough attention is being paid to her

Definitely pearl EDIT: BTW, the sets are now appearing on Shop at Home!

Hi TinyPiesRUs - I love that helmet too! If only we had plumes again... soon hopefully! The armour is pearl silver, not gold.

Set: 7627 - Indiana Jones - Temple of the Crystal Skull Pieces: 929 Price: $AUD149.99 Out of all the Indy 4 sets, this one seems to cop the most flak - which may account for the fact that the other 3 were reviewed weeks ago and this one has sat, unloved and alone, waiting for someone to turn their eye upon it (or, y'know, buy it). Luckily I'm a sucker for spooky old temples, filled with devilish traps and hidden treasures, hissing fountains and overgrown foliage, creepy skeletons and crumbling stonework, so here it is: Indiana Jones 7627, Temple of the Crystal Skull. Part 1: The Figs First off, the figs - 6 humans and 4 skellies (or should that be skullies? ) Indy, Mutt, Irina, and that sneery Russian guy that's in the 2 smaller sets. Nothing new here. Aha! What have we here - two natives. I wonder if hair is a sign of power in this culture, since one guy is completely bald and the other one has the most extraordinarily luxurious black mullet. Somehow I doubt the movie will answer this question. Back view - as you can see, the scalp tattoos are also popular in this tribe. Fashion conscious! (Note in the background the paws of the fearsome black jungle panther, ie my cat, curious as to see what the tribe was up to.) Also, don't ask me why these guys are carrying axes rather than, say, spears. And what everyone's been waiting for, the skullies - three of 'em and a conquistador skellie - very cute. Note the backs of the crystal head have a plume-sized hole - or maybe that's just where they injected the blue brain-plastic. Spooky! I love these skulls, I wasn't sold from the initial pics but they have a very creepy smile and the head shape is just... weird. With the large eyes, it's kind of Homer Simpson-esque. And here we have the token vehicle in the set - a weird little tank thing with treads. Kind of looks like a cross between the amphibious boat and a mini-tank. I'm sure there's a military expert around here who can tell us exactly what it is supposed to be. The treads are nice, but the rest of it is a bit thrown together. You can tell they wanted to keep the dark green colour scheme but the budget only allowed them 5 parts to do so . All in all, a mixed bag with the figs. 4 repeats from the cheaper sets which means we have one new native figure and the crystal skullies. There are heaps of the old-skool skele heads scattered around the sets so those that prefer can replace the skullies with ordinary skellies. Bizarrely, the top of the box which has the line of 1:1 figs pic (you know what I mean) doesn't have names for any of the characters, whereas all the smaller sets do. Part 2: Box, Parts Front of box: Back of box: Two instruction books: Parts. This set has come under criticism for being overpriced - myself included - but the official piece count is 900 plus, which is pretty good considering it also contains the baseplate. 6 big bags and 2 of those 12x12 bricks in dark tan. (Note: set does not contain live Black Jungle Panther) The DSS, helpfully comes pre-scrunched thanks to TLC. Even in a $AUD150 set they can't get that right... sigh. The dark tan baseplate. Say what you like, I'm in love. I know some people don't like these, but they were such a staple of Castle/ Pirates for so many years that I don't consider them a <insert that tiresome argument> piece at all. This one, recycled from the 05 Police HQ and 06 Hospital, is much better in design than the King Leo's Castle one as the different heights and asymmetry make it look much more like a natural piece of ground. Perfect for MOCs. And it's dark tan - how could anyone not love such a huge slab of dark tan? Note this love doesn't extend to applying the stonework stickers which are, frankly, crap. Random instructions page: Part 3: Temple of Doom - or just a doomed temple? The complete set, front view. Isometricish view: Back view: Top view: First impressions? It's very dark tan, isn't it? And green. And bright green. And dark green. And dark red. And normal tan. And dark bley. And pearl gold! In fact, it's a bit of a mish-mash of colours. I'm of two minds about this. I kind of prefer the palette to be a bit subtler, but I can see that a playset designed for kids isn't going to sell bucketloads all tastefully done in shades of tan with lashings of dark-green foliage. There's a huge amount of dark red in this set, which is always a welcome colour, but I'm not convinced it quite works with the 2 shades of tan on offer here. On the plus side, there's also a huge amount of dark tan in ordinary 2x2 bricks, tiles, plates and 1x1 and 1x2x3 slopes, which is great for anyone wanting to stock up. Let's take a closer look. I'll do this roughly in order of the build itself: a) The big scary face. This is a simple, fun build and very effective at projecting menace at the temple entrance. It actually detaches very easily from the temple (as pictured on the box art) to allow easier access to the inside. The eyes are flick-fire missiles, with Scary Face's hair conveniently providing ammo refills should you run out. All in all, from me. (b) The Back Spin the skelly head and stone steps appear - we haven't seen this feature in a while. Nice to get these pieces in dark bley. A conquistador hides under the stairs - this is a bit useless as the stairs can't fully extend while he's there . Moving right... a trapdoor - what could possibly be behind it??!!??!!? Answer: not much, really. A little red stair. I really like these 2 stickers though - very intricate. The staircase leads to what I like to think of as the Crystal Skull Transmogrification Chamber. Now, I know nothing about the movie except that it's supposed to be have a kind of 50s B-movie plot rumoured to feature (look away, spoiler-haters)..... aliens. These weird, creepy gold chairs look made from the bones of aliens if you ask me, with their strange vertebrae and silver claws. It wouldn't surprise me if bringing these aliens back to life was part of the plot of the movie... hence the crystal skull? I guess we'll find out May 22. In any case, transforming aliens clearly like a disco whirl as when you pull the handle, the whole of this assembly spins giddily around. A very clever and simple trick - it's basically just a wheel under the platform but the effect is great. Also under here is a bottomless pit (stickered)... I would very much expect a villian to be thrown down it at some point. "So, do you come here often?" "I don't know who designed this club. These chairs are REALLY uncomfortable." NB. I am really, really over those pearl gold 1x2 roof corner slopes which started popping up in the 2006 Castle range, infected Exo-Force and have now spread here. Can we please have these in a different colour? Or a different pearl gold piece? Pretty please? ( c) Left tower (looking from the front) A small tower with a trans clear gem. (d) Right tower Waterfall with booby trap. I like the sticker, it's very cartoony, which fits with the set somehow. When you turn the wheel, flick fire missiles spray out and hit whoever is on the stairs. Both towers have a trap where if you move the skull, another one pops out from the dragon mouth. (e) Central turret thing This thing is kind of annoying and doesn't really sit or work well. It's kind of like a laser beam sending messages to space, I guess. As the central dome rises, the two plates peel away. I find it is a little bit tight to work smoothly and the two plates doesn't really sit well together at the top. Maybe I just need to rebuild it. I'm sure this will also be explained in the movie. (f) Final trap - the stair that isn't there The final trap is at the front - as Indy goes down the staircase, you can push the red heads and all the 1x8 bley bricks come tumbling down. Simple and works well. (g) Alternate view Here's how it looks as pictured on the box with the head removed. As you can see, this allows better access to the centre of the temple. As you can see, sadly there is nothing actually interesting there except a staircase to the turret and 2 dark tan slopes which are just stuck there and look a little out of place. I mean, come on, everything else has a splash of dark red and gold! Your Destination: Nowhere! Part 4: In Conclusion So after all those endless pics, what about the set itself? CONS:As a playset, 7627 doesn't quite make sense. Admittedly, the traps that are there are well-designed and unobtrusive. On the other hand, there's a great big whopping entrance at the front - but I wasn't sure if the figs are supposed to sneak in through the backdoor and go up the spiral staircase and past the waterfall (as shown in the box art) or if they were meant to end up in the golden skull room. The middle area doesn't really connect with anything, nor does the giant space turret. It may be that some of these questions are answered in the film, but whereas with 7624, 7625 and 7626 I could at least picture a story myself (eg with River Chase is fairly obvious what's happening - a chase down a river with a croc and a communist staking them out)!, the Temple set is a little all over the place. The design feels a little off to me - not really bad but not really great either. PROS: On the plus side, the natives and crystal skulls themselves are great. At 900+ pieces, this is also a great parts pack for dark tan, dark red, plant pieces, gold oddments etc. I especially love the baseplate in that shade. I like the overall shape of the temple - a big staircase with secret nooks and crannies. The build is reasonably interesting and there are some clever tricks with the traps. But upon reflection I shouldn't have to sell this set - it should be able to sell itself! As I said before, I'm a huge fan of dark, mysterious old temples so for that I have to give it some love. It reminds me of the big old Adventurers sets and the whiff of nostalgia is itself a powerful intoxicant. However, for the price Lego is selling it in Australia/ Europe/ Canada I couldn't recommend it as a must-buy for full price when the smaller sets in this series are themselves so good. Review done - woo!

Hobbyco has the small AT-ST for $AUD27.95 (down from $39.99) - plus you get a free limited edition 50th anniversary gold brick key ring for every purchase over $25. And Toys R Us has the UCS AT-ST for $AUD85 (down from $139.99)!

Battle wheel is supposed to be a TRU exclusive release in April, as advertised in the Lego Club magazine. No sightings so far. I saw 7094 in K-Mart, Myer and David Jones so it can't have been an exclusive - or at least it wasn't last Christmas. K-Mart seem to get a limited number of higher priced stock, mark it down during a special promotion, and then rarely, if ever, restock the item - it's like they make their sales quota so they don't bother - probably a legacy of the days when they had large numbers of big sets on clearance for months on end. On the other hand, they always have masses of the smaller sets and restocking seems much more efficient (eg the smaller Castle sets). I have my doubts if 7094 will ever reappear... However if I see it around I will keep you in mind and let you know!

It is odd pricing. I couldn't resist all four though! As I pointed out somewhere else, this makes Indy a more expensive license than Star Wars if you compare the prices in $US. AT-AP - $US39.99 - $AUS69.99 --> same pricepoint as Jungle Cutter, but it's $AUS79.99 Sail Barge - $US79.99 - $AUS139.99 --> same pricepoint as Temple of the Crystal Skull, but it's $AUS149.99 Seems like the trick of doubling the price in US dollars for other markets is hitting here too. It's even more bizarre that the Factory Space sets are $US20 more expensive than the large temple set, but $AUS20 cheaper for Aussies to buy! Rest assured someone will have these on sale anyway if you want to wait. K-Mart will probably have them a few dollars cheaper as usual and Myer will no doubt have a promotional 20-ish% off at some point like they did with the first 4 Indy sets.

One online retailer for Aus had the new castle sets listed for SEPTEMBER They were right about the Indy 4 set prices so they may be right about this too. They also had SW sets listed from Aug - Oct. A September release date may explain why we haven't seen anything and why only the troll wheel (also still to appear) and the mine were the only new ones listed in the Lego 08 catalog. The castle release schedule is bizarre - last year King's Castle was available from S@H in June but it didn't hit stores until much later. Then some stores had it in Nov/ Dec on a limited release and I haven't seen it since. Maybe the mid year catalogue will have more info. One thing I can say is at least the release dates printed in the January one were pretty accurate this year!

Australians all, let us rejoice... for we now have Indy! Just popped into my local shopping centre @ Bondi Junction during lunch - Target now has all four Indy 4 sets in stock! Picked up all of them in the following Aus prices: 7624 - Jungle Duel - $19.99 7625 - River Chase - $39.99 7626 - Jungle Cutter - $79.99 7627 - Temple of the Crystal Skull - $149.99 A bit overpriced, methinks. The Target toy section was littered with flattened Lego shipping boxes so I'm guessing these were only stocked today. Myer and K-Mart didn't yet have stock (I went there first) but I assume these stores will soon follow, along with DJs. Mods, please move or lock this thread if it is in the wrong place or repeated - I hadn't seen this news anywhere else and didn't want it to get lost in the rest of Indy 4 threads. Apologies if this is the case.

Prices from the Toy fair pics were (in US$) 7626 - Jungle Cutter - $39.99 7627 - Temple of the Crystal Skull - $79.99 I think xwingyoda was speaking in Euros. For Australians, the prices I've seen online are - 7624 - $19.99; 7625 - $39.99; 7626 - $79.99; 7627 - $149.99 - a bit of a hike over the wave I prices and even more expensive than star wars! (eg the AT-AP was $US39.99 and retails here at $69.99 and the Sail Barge was $US79.99 and retailed here at $139.99). EDIT: Just popped into my local shopping centre and picked up all 4 sets from Target: 7624 - Jungle Duel - $19.99 7625 - River Chase - $39.99 7626 - Jungle Cutter - $79.99 7627 - Temple of the Crystal Skull - $149.99

Hi Naith, the torso is from the new Speed Racer 8161 Grand Prix, from the 'Gray Ghost' fig I think. It's very nice, all decorated with chains! Great for a castle torturer or Houdini too! I don't think this question belongs in this thread though, mods may want to move these posts back to the contest discussion...

Lego Elflands: Naiad Attack Piece count: 100 There have always been rumours about the Dark Forest among the elven-folk... rumours that something even they cannot fight hidden in the depths of the dark dark trees... Innocently gathering mushrooms, an elf scout stumbles across a sparkling stream. Upon closer examination, the elf spots golden treasures lying seemingly abandoned in the crystal waters. Excitement at this amazing discovery mounting, he reaches out to grab a golden goblet... But as his hand closes around the goblet, the elf recoils in horror as the calm waters of the stream, now frothing violently, rise up and suck him below the suddenly murky waters. He cries in horror as he sees what is hidden below... Beneath the waters rises up the evil form of a naiad, or water nymph, to drag the elf to his death. Quickly he releases the goblet and tries to swim to the surface - but it is too late, and he has already seen the skeletal remains of one of his brethren who has met a similar fate. The naiad smiles as she lets loose a water lightning spell to kill the elf. Her golden mermaid's tail glints in the dark waters - it is covered with golden scales made from the treasures of the fools she lures to her doom. Sadly this elf had no valuables to adorn her underwater lair. But the naiad is patient. She knows that all too soon another traveller will stumble across the stream... and she will wield her dark magics again! Design Notes: I wanted a small set with some good parts (gold pieces, new dark brown slopes, dark green leaves and bricks) and simple play value (the rising waters are hinged with a technic pin and when fully raised sit against the trees.) I also wanted the figs not to be soldiers so I chose a civilian elf and as an enemy, a water nymph. The nymph is attached to the underside of the water and is only visible when the plate is raised.

You do indeed - built after instructions were released on Shop @ Home but before March 1. Better picture here.

Yay! Australians get a good price again. $AUD130 is hard to resist. 99 euros - not so much.

Great review, thanks a lot for all the pics. I agree that this is probably the nicest set of the Indy 4 wave. So much dark green and I love all the plant pieces. It's been ages since we've had enough pieces in a regular release to build nice forests so it's great to see 11 of the dark green leaves in one set and all the vines! The design of the cutter looks very solid and brick built as well. Giant ants are great looking too.

thanks for all your comments, guys. to answer a few of your questions: 1) macK - i haven't built the top and bottom floors of the other two sets as i only just finished this one. and see point 2 for anothe reason why i am not in a rush to do so... 1) captaintau - yes, it does get a little repetitive. but i broke it up and built the extra floors over about a week and a half so it wasn't too bad. the middle floor is probably the simplest of the three so that cuts down on the time. it's a great build anyway and the final goal was always in sight. i got in trouble for taking over the dining room table though, ha ha! 2) holodoc: re difficulties building mirror-style. it took a little bit of time to get into the rhythm, but once i was there i didn't have any problems. (i have built like this before so maybe that helped.) there were a few times i had to backtrack - sometimes with the fire escape the placement of the droid arms etc confused me a bit - but nothing too major. 3) der seb, i really like your idea - it probably looks better than do the full mirrored sets but maybe a little harder to integrate the interior spaces so they are all open together... you could modify it so it was all one open floor, which would be way cool. as your example shows, i agree with dunamis that this set exceeds CC just because the modularity is even more open-ended. 4) as for the cost of them - i took advantage of the cheap australian price before TLC fixed it on Shop at Home! At 40% off it was an offer too good to refuse. so basically instead of buying 2, i bought 4. lucky australians for that one week in march! i am more of a town fan and the recent sets have been so great that i don't mind foregoing some other stuff (eg star wars, heretical as this may be) in favour of expanding my streetscape. we are just lucky in 07-08 - this really is a golden age for town/ city fans!

Hi Dunamis - yes, that's where I first saw the idea, from your fantastic review. It's a great idea and it would absolutely work with Green Grocer as well as Cafe Corner. It's especially hard to do middle floors with GG unless you buy the set as I think some of the large sand green pieces are rare or exclusive to GG (I think it was in a Brickjournal article that Jamie mentioned that he tried to get some pieces in new or hard to find colours.) Sinner, I think we've all seen this pic.... so we all know it's not the size of the set but what you do with it... Sure. One day. Not one day soon, mind you. I just finished this yesterday!

All four! I think it's too hard to divorce play from building. I guess for me more of the pleasure comes from arranging tableaux or doing MOCS primarily for display, rather than firing technic shooter thingys, but even so Lego is still primarily a tool of the imagination, and in that sense it is all creative play. Even if you're just sorting through bricks sometimes a particular colour or parts combination can suggest ideas for future projects. I also find that even if you tend to 'display' stuff, the urge to fiddle and rearrange poses, actions, minifigs etc is so irresistible that counts as play as well!

Hi all, just wanted to post these pics in case anyone was interested in seeing how multiple 10185s stack up. The modularity with these things is fantastic, as the top and middle floors fit equally well on the ground floor. I chose to mirror the multiples just to add symmetry to the buildings. To start - the basic 10185 x 2, front view: And the 10185 x 2, fire escape view: Jamie Berard has already posted a mirrored 10185 x 2 setup in his Brickshelf gallery. So just for something slightly different: the 10185 x 2 with mirrored ground floor and no middle floors. I think these buildings look fine like this and may be a suitable compromise for those who think the modular houses are too big for an ordinary layout: And swapped the other way: Detail shot: And rooftop shot: For something slightly different - the 10185 x 3 - assymetric roofs! I think the staggered look actually suits the modularity and you could extend a whole row of houses upwards and downwards And now, the piece de resistance - the 10185 x 4, double floored and mirrored. Another front view: Back view: Rooftop garden: Fire escape detail: And window detail: Last but not least, the 10185 x 4 reversed: Back view: Window detail: And just for something different, a staggered streetscape: There we have it! Please don't ask me to disassemble the mirrored floors and rebuild as one giant 10185 x 4 just yet as I have to recover from building this mammoth first! As you can see, whereas 4 lots of Cafe Corner put side by side would always form one building, the 10185 adds a lot of potential to create interesting and dynamic streetscapes, as short or tall and as long as you like! Having built with x 2 middle floors I think the version as sold with 1 x middle floor now looks a little short! Although I can understand their decision, I think it is a shame Lego hasn't released middle floor supplementary packs for 10182 and 10185 as it quickly becomes very expensive to add height to your modular houses strip and you are forced to accumulate copies of 2/3 of a set that you may not wish to use immediately. In short though, I love this line and I can't wait to see what designer Jamie Berard has for us in '09!

Aussies, David Jones has the two larger Speed Racers sets as well - the Cruncher Block one (8160) and Grand Prix (8161). Kmart also has a buy one toy, get 40% off the second at the moment.

Great set, although odd that they do seem to repeat elements from other Indy sets. The plane, however, is fab. The windows are definitely stickers but I guess these can be modded. Can't wait for the Indy 4 sets to be released!