Svelte

Academy Teacher VBBN has been bringing us fantastic reviews of the new Bionicle replacement, Hero Factory. His latest review is of 7165 Natalie Breez. Be sure to check out this review of Ms Breez and also VBBN's earlier review of 7169 Mark Surge in our Action Figures Forum!

Hahaah! True. The Galactic Enforcer does suffer from the 'stick lots of stuff on the sides that looks cool but doesn't do anything' syndrome. I don't have much classic space, but the GE suffers internally on interior volume compared to something like the 1986 6985 Cosmic Fleet Voyager which has connecting modular sections and large lab etc rather than just a corridor down the middle and a completely separate main cockpit.

It would be great to have a proper theme aimed at girls. The last new Belville wave was in 2008 and the occasional pink brick bucket and a fairy keychain doesn't cut it. Even if you don't like the pink aesthetic, Belville sets (and before them Scala) were always amazing for cool minifig accessories you couldn't get anywhere else.

Is one part really going to make that much difference for buyers? I can't believe you did that whole list just to track down one part. Brickset pulls its parts counts off S@H, which lists it as 669. The currently pending inventory on Bricklink, however, agrees with you. Maybe you should ask LEGO. Call them up and start reading them your list

Town and Train master TheBrickster shares with us an exclusive review of the new Architecture set 21006 The White House Click here to view this stunning review in our Other Themes LEGO forum.

There is a separate thread for wish lists about future licenses. Let's keep this topic to the original point. Thanks!

Technic-head Blakbird brings us a humble review of the new Technic 8043 Excavator. Is it one of the best Technic sets ever? Read on to find out! Click here to view this review in our Technic forum.

Probably the new printed HP owls if this is correct.

I can't see I've looked at that website gallery too much as those contorted computer-generated figs annoy me And the colours are a bit weird too.

There are two Ginnies in the catalogue - one civilian, one in uniform - does that explain it?

Please don't post such stupidly formed questions. Why not just ask the full question in your thread title? All you are doing is encouraging people to pointlessly click through to your question when they may not know the answer and wasting their time. Since it's been answered I'll lock this and post with more care in future. Thanks.

That's clearly LEGO's intention these days - short, quickie licenses to coincide with movies. Star Wars is in a category of its own, and even it has suffered from the 'remakes' syndrome at times which no other line could get away with, apart from perhaps Harry Potter which had its own years in the wilderness. The great thing about short Licensed themes is you get the 'best of' releases rather than malingering lines which go nowhere and become desperate for inspiration. Buy these quickie lines if you like them! Celebrate their success! Don't mourn their failure! Like buses, they'll be another one along in a minute

Special K, please post more thoughtfully and avoid over-using emoticons. We expect a certain level of maturity in discussions at EB. Thanks.

Special K, please post more thoughtfully and add to the conversation before adding a post which only continues to bump an old thread. If you have something startling and new to add, that's great, but comments like 'wow nice' don't really add meaningfully to this topic. Thanks.

I can't see anything, but this topic is stupid. Why would you post a link to a craigslist ad in searching for this so-called MOC? Why not contact the craigslist owner? Is this some subtle form of advertising? Do people in other forums post random links to ads with leading topic titles like 'Identify this MOC'? Think before you post or make your intention exactly clear.

Nice work! I like this glimpse into the seedy underbelly of Galactic City! It feels very shady and down-at-heel.

Yes, it's a risk - but that's at the heart of all business decisions. If the movies had been monster hits LEGO would have been ahead of the game. The limited number of sets in those themes also means the risk is more concentrated than if they had done a 'full' line of 8+ sets. It's funny, even before release LEGO seems to have been aware that Prince of Persia wasn't likely to do as well as Toy Story - and in Australia at least - adjusted the prices to reflect this foreknowledge. Eg, the US price of the Army Men set and Desert Attack are both $US10.99, and the Western Train Chase and Alamut sets are both $US79.99, but in Australia the price of Army Men is $AUD22.99 and Desert Attack is $AUD17.99 ($5 is a huge difference at the small price point) and the Western Train Chase is $AUD159.99 whilst Alamut is a more palatable $AUD139.99. I also imagine that Disney has its own ideas about what it sees as appropriate properties and exerts some influence over what Licensed themes LEGO does in the end produce, but that is pure speculation based on Disney's coercive behaviour in other markets

I haven't seen a shred of evidence that suggests this is the case. A few people floated this theory when it was clear Indy wasn't coming back in 2010, but that's all it was - a theory.

I bought this in the sales a week and a half ago for about 28% off... it's a fun set and an enjoyable build with some fantastic and unusual parts. I have to say, building these sets with printed parts is (for me) a lot more enjoyable than their stickered cousins in other themes. The shape is great - chunky and funky - and the size of the set is just great for swooshability. The colour problems which plagued yellow in 2009 seem to have gone and the overall aesthetic is wonderfully fun and inviting. The play features are great too and I love that the manual spells out exactly how to fit all the odd-sized figs inside Definitely a highlight of the TS line for me. Thanks again for the review, Oky!

I wasn't impressed by the initial pics but having built it I do like it a lot more than I thought I would. I actually like the return to the green plates and red slopes instead of having another 'dark' coloured theme (which we had from KK2 2006 and Fantasy 2007-2009). The footprint, whilst smaller than the King's Castle Siege, is actually a lot sturdier and more akin to the large playset size of other castles (like the PoP Alamut set or Trolls Mountain fortress). Unlike the 2007 Castle, this one is properly modular - with 2 sets it is much easier to expand the side walls, for example, than having to dismantle sections of the castle which don't connect properly. It is also strong enough to carry around without bits falling off. The gatehouse looks fab and the drawbridge and portcullis mechanism work brilliantly (the portcullis is especially clever). Yes, it would look better with a detailed interior but that's what the Advent Calendar is for! The only sore points are the sticker overload and crappy print quality on some of the figs/ accessories, but that's hardly news to anyone buying LEGO for the last 5 years. I would recommend this set over the 2007 King's Castle Siege, for sure!

Interesting topic! The June catalogue arrived last week and it did strike me how many different types of licensed seemed to be flooding its pages - Duplo Toy Story 3, Spongebob, Toy Story 3, Toy Story, Prince of Persia, Ben 10, Alien Force, the Lamborghini sets... But as lightningtiger points out, these themes are often very limited in comparison with the 'major' house themes like City (Fire, Airport, Trains, special releases), a major action theme like Atlantis (14 sets this year) or a mega-theme like Star Wars (18 or 19 sets including Exclusives). Ben 10 has 6. PoP has 5. Even Toy Story 3 only has a few sets with one or two retailer exclusives depending where you live. I think the way LEGO handles licenses is different than what it used to be and more in line with other retail products - short bursts with lots of sales in a concentrated period of time when the movie is released and then it vanishes from shelves. Indy KOTCS followed this model - big promo push, sets not restocked. Even the wave 3 classic Indy sets were available for less than a year before being clearanced from S@H. As Rick says, the flipside is that often we do get more interesting parts and pieces from Licensed themes. This includes figs too. City might introduce a few new faces or torsos per year whereas a Licensed theme has to introduce a whole new lineup of characters. Look at the forthcoming Harry Potter line! Only 6 sets but amazing new moulds and prints for the figs, and check out this page from the catalogue on the bottom left where they are all lined up together. It's pretty impressive (and the sets are pretty nice too ) : It might sting to say this, but I like Licensed themes a little more as overall they are better designed than regular in-house lines. Star Wars compared to Space is a classic example. The detail and execution of vehicles is much more satisfying than the largely simple Space theme vehicles. While I do like some Action themes, I think the design is often lacking and a little cheap, whereas in Licensed themes LEGO seems to have to go an extra step to please the licensee (not to mention that they gain access to the property's artwork and concepts which reduces their own development time/ costs). Think of the Atlantis wave 1 vehicles with their exposed dark bley Technic beams with attached panels, simple cockpit interiors and very simple shooting mechanisms. You almost never see anything as clever as the sliding door mechanism of say, the 8036 Separatist's Shuttle, in a regular System set. So yes, Licensed sets may be a bit pricier (moreso in non-US countries) but I'd rather pay a bit more and have amazing figs and great set designs than just the regular City figs or Action Theme figs with their continually tortured and distorted faces (Power Miners, Atlantis, World Racers...) and the usual array of vehicles and us vs them playsets....

OMG! OMG! *runs around in circles* How exciting! Have a birthday of amazingness and awesomosity! You know what the old rhyme says: 'And the child that is born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.'

Thanks for the clearance tip. There's no Big W near me and the closest one is usually sucked dry of anything good, so I got my regional mum to check out her local Big W and she scored a Galactic Enforcer and Y-Wing at the clearance price. She says she couldn't find any Landspeeders; maybe I should tell her to check the toasters

It's exclusive for the sale period. Just like the Venator was exclusive to Big W last year. Mid year SW sets often get shopped around like the overpriced strumpets they are - at least until the gloss fades and everyone gets them by the end of July/ August (or whatever date it says in the catalogue; I haven't got mine yet). I want a good deal on the Slave I! I wish that, General Grevious or even Palpatine's Shuttle was out instead of the CTT. You can't help but think Target picked a stinker there.

I agree that the quality is not of the highest standard - matt finish, translucent edges - and this does take the 'shine' off the collection as a whole (pun intended!), especially since all the official computer-generated pictures released look like they've been splattered with personal lubricant, they're so glistening and light-reflecting! There is one area where the factory is doing better than its regular counterparts - and that's in the printing. Unlike the regular factories, none of the minifigs I've had suffer from overprinting or blur, whereas its extremely rare to find an official fig these days where colours don't stray from their borders or look washed out (pink-torsoed Kingdoms knights are but one example). Every so often I open a pre 2006 set and it's always a shock to see sharp, highly crisp faces and shields that don't have melted icecream edges