Graysmith

Yeah, I've noticed a whole bunch of parts that were previously available in the normal mode now only being accessible in Extended, which is extremely annoying. Just to mention a few parts: 11477, 15068, 11476, 99780, 99781, 11090. Excited to get new parts, but as someone who prefers to build as much as possible in regular mode it's really frustrating "losing" pieces in that mode. Also frustrating is seeing new parts that don't work, or old parts that haven't been fixed. Part 23448 (cockpit canopy) can't be attached for either 60177 Airshow Jet or 76076 Captain America Jet Pursuit because the bar is too wide. Putting 24151 (Mighty Micros hull) on top of 24326 (Mighty Micros chassis) still won't let you put a plate in-between the gap in the front and back.

Ooh nice. I'll finally get around to updating to El Capitan then, can't live without the new bricks!

My excitement turned sour when it turns out LDD on Mac now requires OS X 10.10 or higher (even though the installer lists the minimum requirement as 10.6.8). But I suppose I am way overdue updating my OS X after all, wouldn't have guessed it'd be LDD that'd be the one to require it though.

Why the LEGO AFOL community doesn't crowdfund to send a proper photographer to an event like this is beyond me. Imagine if we had someone there to take multiple hi-res photos of all sets from different angles, of box art, close-ups of details/minifigures, etc. I think most of us would happily part with a few euros/pounds each if we'd get that in return instead of all these crappy, bad angle, low-res photos/videos.

Some hi-res (-ish) pics of the 75048 Phantom from Tesco's website: http://tesco.scene7.com/is/image/tesco/579-2675_PI_TPS2106451?wid=2200&ht=2000 http://tesco.scene7.com/is/image/tesco/579-2675_PI_TPS2106480?wid=2200&ht=2000

Since Tesco's image viewer is pretty horrendous, here are some direct image links for those Arctic sets: 60032: http://tesco.scene7.com/is/image/tesco/465-4419_PI_TPS2106458?wid=2200&ht=2000 http://tesco.scene7.com/is/image/tesco/465-4419_PI_TPS2106459?wid=2200&ht=2000 60033: http://tesco.scene7.com/is/image/tesco/691-3087_PI_TPS2106415?wid=2200&ht=2000 http://tesco.scene7.com/is/image/tesco/691-3087_PI_TPS2106206?wid=2200&ht=3300 60034: http://tesco.scene7.com/is/image/tesco/587-7077_PI_TPS2106487?wid=2200&ht=2000 http://tesco.scene7.com/is/image/tesco/587-7077_PI_TPS2106443?wid=2200&ht=2000

I hope so. This new droid looks a bit too squished for my taste, but I like that the body has a regular studs bottom and is capped off by a boat stud underneath. I would definitely not mind it if LEGO redesigned the current astromech body in the same way, it'd make it look better when used as a droid, and such a piece could be far more useful for other things than the current one is.

Interesting to see the new astromech legs and body.. I wonder if that's going to be the size for all astromechs going forward or if this is just meant to be a smaller type.

Probably not a popular opinion, but I'd like to see a new version of the AAT, preferably a tan version. They're one of the few things from the prequel trilogy that I always liked the look of, and it'd be interesting to see how they could design it with all the new parts that have been introduced since the last AAT model (8018).

I just picked up the Death Star Troopers and Kashyyyk Troopers sets the other day and I have to say the new blasters have got to be one of the most genius things LEGO has come up with in a long time. I can imagine some being disappointed since they bear no resemblance to actual Star Wars weapons, but I love how chunky they are and how much they remind me of the really old-school Star Wars blasters (the ones made with a stud and a megaphone). That said, I'm yet again heartbroken by the fact that Darth Vader remains one of the most elusive minifigures around. Why is it so impossible for LEGO to put him in a reasonably-sized/priced set? There has got to be a generation of kids out there who never has and never will own a Darth Vader minifigure because he hardly ever appears in any sets, and when he does it's always the huge, really expensive ones. It's especially puzzling when they put Han Solo himself in one of the new Microfighters sets, a character/minifigure that is surely just as desirable as Darth Vader.

Gotta say I'm really disappointed that the nice-looking snowcat (with the wide tracks) isn't the one that comes stand-alone in set 60033. Those two snowcats should've switched sets. The snowcat in 60033 isn't particularly appealing when you've seen the one in 60036, but it would've been an okay vehicle to get with the base camp set since that set has so much else going for it. A missed opportunity by LEGO there, because I think a lot more would buy 60033 if it had the better snowcat. I know I would, but now I'll probably skip these sets altogether. A nice sub-theme overall, though whoever decided that the minifigures should have blue hoods on orange jackets should be fired because that just looks horrendous. The point of the hood piece is that it should look like it's part of the jacket/torso (see Wyldstyle in the new LEGO Movie sets for a good example), so having them be two completely different colours is just blech.

The Batman set looks very promising given the two unique minifigures. The set itself is crap (the whole cave opening looks like one giant piece), but with only 150 pieces it may be well worth a purchase if only for the minifigures.

Lovely set. Maybe not that great just on its own, but a very nice "accessory set" for those who own the other Winter Village sets and like to have them all put together in a display. They already did a giant Christmas tree for 10199.

Does anyone know if the Vermin Vaporizer is a store-exclusive in the U.K.? Amazon UK sells all the other first wave sets (and have for some time) but not the Vermin Vaporizer, which is pissing me off because that's the one that I wanted to get.

I'll get the Gatehouse Raid set. You get a knight and a soldier from each faction, a black horse with barding and a pretty nice-looking little structure. The catapult looks terrible, but I quite like everything else about it and it's not like it'll be a huge investment at 248 pieces.

The plain coffin lid (10304) can't attach to the top of the coffin (30163). The other two lids (30164 and 42447) attach properly. It's easy to get around it by using a plate to place it correctly, but a bug is a bug!

I just don't get why this, assuming it's only intended as an April Fool's Joke, is still up. April Fool's is April 1st, and only April 1st, so keeping it there makes no sense whatsoever. Also, considering the reactions expressed here I'd say that's all the more reason to get rid of it because why would Eurobricks owners/admins want to keep people arguing? Especially when the site usually is policed rather swiftly and sternly. Keeping it up and letting this thread continue makes me feel like those in charge of Eurobricks don't care what people think of their site, which is rather surprising and disheartening.

Great review, great set. And I agree about the smokestack being lackluster.. It's pretty much the only weakness I can see though, and surely it'd be easy enough to come up with a different design for it.

I can't get any regular brick studs to attach to Technic brick holes (3005 and 6541, and so on). 87087 will attach via the open stud on the side, but not the top stud. Plates (like 3024) do attach to the Technic holes though so surely it's a bug and a pretty huge one.

Good catch (no pun intended)! Looking at FBTB's Toy Fair photos again, I noticed that the white shark on the box in the Coast Guard Helicopter set is indeed this new (small) shark. The actual set that was displayed had the old (small) shark though, as did the boxes and displays for the other coast guard sets. I think we can expect them all to have this new shark when they're released though. As for the big Agents/Pirates shark, I always found it to be too cartoony (reminds me of Bruce from Finding Nemo). I'm very happy they're using the smaller and more realistic shark, and even happier knowing that LEGO has refreshed the design of it!

Nice work! I did spot an error though, you have the Series 3 Pilot's backpack in medium dark flesh (medium nougat) rather than the dark tan (sand yellow) it is supposed to be.

Can't help but think that the paint roller handle would make a really excellent wall light fixture.

I noticed a very small change in the 3365 Moon Buggy. The first one I bought (in late 2011) used this inverted slope piece, but when I bought another about six months later (mid-2012) it came with this one instead, which is the same piece but with holes in the bottom. I've bought several more of this set since (I needed more astronauts minifigures), and they've all come with the inverted slope with the holes in the bottom. Now you'd think this might just be random, that they used whatever such piece they had, holes or not, but I actually believe it was a conscious change because for some reason the open studs on the sides are somewhat deeper in the inverted slope with the holes, and that makes the antenna attach much more securely than it did with the one they used at first. The instructions manual wasn't changed though since they only swapped one piece for another that looks exactly the same.

Arctic Batman for sure, though had Nick Fury's car been another colour then maybe I'd have picked that one. The green just doesn't feel right. But they're both great value, and affordable.

The new canopy piece 98102 can’t be attached/placed properly in some cases. Try attaching in Galaxy Squad sets 70704 and 70705 to see what I mean.