Thomas_w

Youtube as a "career" in general seems to end in drama, burnout and resentment for pretty much every hobby I follow on there (I am interested in organic chemistry and there is currently a fall out amongst all the chem-tubers). The big names in each hobby are a small set of people and largely exist online and in a little echo chamber and eventually it all blows up. I can imagine the grind of having to constantly produce content, chase ad revenue and so-on eventually saps all joy out of the hobby that you originally created videos for. There do seem to be a few Lego-tubers out there where this hasn't happened to them, I can suggest RR Slugger, who doesn't do reviews as such, but posts interesting Lego content seemingly free of drama. As for "high-profile reviewer" my impression is that his passion for the hobby (or at least) Youtube has been ebbing away and it has made much of his content dour and irritable. Enough that I more-or-less stopped watching any reviews of things I might be interested in. With him, I get the impression he is independently wealthy enough to not need the income from his channel, which begs the question, why do it?

I think for the high-profile reviewer in question, he has been so vocal about being independent / unsponsored in the past, that now upon taking sponsorship has to almost performatively justify why he is now doing this. That video (not the review, but the "talk about sponsorship") was erratic and, frankly, bizarre, which I think stems from the cognitive dissonance of building your brand on integrity, and no sponsorships, but then taking some money / products for reviews anyway. It's something that I think Youtubers care about much more than their audience. The video reviews are good in that you can see a product close up, different angles, close up of the figures. I appreciate the well-produced videos that "high profile" reviewer and others put out. But do I care about their opinion? Not really. Another long-winded rant about stickers or "price-to-part ratio", not really.

Oh you are the DnD guy who made everything in red and black! Super cool. I can't wait to see the progress on this one. Did you play Baldurs Gate 3?

I love everything about this BardDandelion! I think I like the dragonflies you made the best. But everything has so much personality. I don't know if you are familiar with the children's TV show "Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom" but it reminds me a lot of that.

@carpandean Oh my, I love it. I also prefer the original Lego Boba Fett mask. The mandalorian one is very cool.

Haha, it was relative to an undergraduate funded by the basic student loan here in the UK. I felt like an absolute king because I lived in College accommodation which was quite cheap.

Great to see some retro Lego heads amongst the figures here. I think 14 is my favourite because its exactly the sort of mixed up dude I would have made when I was younger.

Around 10 years ago I went through a phase of buying a few older sets, Blacktron II, M-tron and Forestmen. Basically some sets I wanted as a child and never got. I had just started my PhD and finally had a bit of ££ to spend with my stipend. At this time buying older sets on Bricklink was actually pretty cheap (definitely relative to now) especially if you didn't mind about the box or instructions. I remember buying a lot of sets from EU countries because shipping them to the UK was cheaper than buying them domestically. Having looked recently for some older sets they seem to be astronomically priced relative to back when I was buying them. Things like Adventurers, Ice Planet, older Star Wars sets are all just too much for me to justify buying them for nostalgia, especially in context of all the amazing intricate and diverse sets Lego release now.

I had an order in on the 1st Jan for England, it got dispatched on the 13th and the DPD tracker suggested it was held for customs clearance for 2 days. Was not expecting it to be so long, but given the huge changes with regards to Brexit and also the global pandemic I think it is justified and understandable. Feels like the UK had taken a huge step back though.

I think 1/5 is very unfair and perhaps you should judge the set on its own merits. Fine, you don't like the concept of the Microfighters, I am halfway inclined to agree, but I do think being critical of this set because Han Solo is a common figure and there have been previous Millennium Falcon Microfighters is missing the point and the way it is written can be interpreted as mean spirited and condescending rather than satirical or humorous. It's 6 years since the last Millennium Falcon Microfighter with Han Solo was in it, think how many children have grown up, been introduced to Star Wars in that time? How many might want a cool set with Han Solo only for their parents to look it up and find that their options are £120 for Slave I or £350 for the Cloud City? Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon are two of the most defining, iconic, things about Star Wars. People who haven't even seen these films would recognise them. Maybe instead of groaning at Grandma not buying you a "real set" (ugh) you should celebrate that Lego has provided a route (by Microfighters) to bring the most popular characters and the spaceships to less affluent families who cannot spend hundreds of pounds to buy sets containing chase figures that are released each year.

Setting aside that this set is a cheap (ish) way to get the Mandalorian and Child figures, it does feel a bit sparse otherwise. In a dream world it would have included a bantha (perhaps in lieu of the speeder and the crossbow?). Having seen the episode I agree with Retro and Calanon in that I would have liked to see Cobb Vanth included, but given the chance of the figure being leaked online I guess it was safer not to include. The Tusken Raider camp is nice, it could have been expanded on if the crossbow wasn't a feature. I mean its not terrible, but if it wasn't for the two major figures I think it would be received more poorly, can you imagine this set with say Luke and R2D2? It wouldn't be popular.

Very slick, love the use of the classic Fright Knight Witch torso and the 90's "generic female" head.

Brilliantly creative, love seeing different methods to create interesting poses. Despite that I think my personal favourite is the chap in the middle.

This is a really neat little retro-style build you have made ProfSrlojohn. I like the coffee mugs-as-headlamps and how you have managed to keep the style and aesthetic of the M-tron sets, but incorporated newer elements. Something about the bubble-canopy always makes me think submersible and not spaceship and so my mind immediately decided this was some sort of aquatic suvery ship, where the M-tron guys scour the depths for space cargo or salvage.

The pipe element on Sir Archibald is neat, is that an official Lego element? I get a real Fantasy Era vibe from these guys and the newer CMF armour slots in neatly with the existing silvery toned helmets. What caused such a happy go lucky bunch of dudes to sign up with the Fright Knights anyway?