Graysmith

I think the sets did a good job overall of conveying the movie. Some characters obviously pop up in sets they didn't appear in (Iron Man with the Cosmic Cube Escape most notably) but that's normal as far as LEGO goes. You'll be getting a Queen Amidala figure with the upcoming Gungan Sub set, and just about every other Star Wars set includes characters that have little or nothing to do with the model, such as Princess Leia and the recent Y-Wing model. It's certainly nothing to get worked up about. Captain America's motorcycle set would be the odd one out, but I'm guessing they wanted to add something extra to play with since just Captain America versus those flying aliens would've been rather boring. And it's not like Captain America never had a bike before. It's still accurate to the character, just not the movie itself. The only really obviously strange design choice I can think of is that they put a sai-blade on Loki's staff instead of using a transparent blue diamond piece to illustrate the power source. That staff with a blue diamond would've looked far more true to the movie than the staff + sai blade.

Here are some direct links to the hi-res images on the TRU site for those like me who can't stand those tiny, useless zoom windows: The Swamp Creature Image 1 Image 2 The Mummy Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 The Werewolf Image 1 Image 2 The Vampyre Hearse Image 1 Image 2 The Ghost Train Image 1 Image 2 On that note, is it just me or are the set names extremely boring? Couldn't they at least have called them something like "Attack of the Swamp Creature", "The Mummy's Chariot" and "The Werewolf's Ambush"?

I don't think it looks more like a bear than a wolf, but I will say that I think it's just a bit too big for my taste. It kind of comes off looking like it's a person wearing a wolf's head mask rather than a "real" head.. Kind of like the Lizard Man CMF, but not obviously looking like a mask.

Couldn't it just simply be something they made just for that exhibit? Just to add a bit of detail to the city? Assuming that's just a sticker, it wouldn't have taken a LEGO designer very long to design that and have it printed on sticker paper.

Someone ought to at least make it in midi-scale a la 8099.

A dream come true for anyone who ever wanted a golden bucket handle. Thanks for the review, WhiteFang!

I don't know.. I just didn't have any problems with it. I haven't heard of anyone having problems with the Swedish LEGO.com store though, so maybe the problem is related to certain countries.

I don't even really think of LOTR as a Castle theme. There are obviously A LOT of similarities, but at the same time the style and theme is so very different even if they all use swords and bows, and there are kings and horses. I kinda feel the same with Pirates of the Caribbean.. It's got pirates, captains and ships but it's just so different from the typical LEGO Pirates theme. I love the Castle/Kingdoms and LOTR sets equally, but in very different ways.

Excellent! Ordered the Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape and one Series 7 minifigure which put me over the free shipping/TC-14 promo limit for my country. The TC-14 stayed on the list the whole way through and it's listed on the receipt/email order description. Fingers crossed!

I put some non-Star Wars LEGO in my shopping bag and it still put the TC-14 figure in there.. Does that mean I'll still get it if I place my order, despite not ordering any Star Wars LEGO? I mean, even if it's an error on their part, shouldn't I still get it since they placed it in my shopping bag and told me I'd be getting one?

I think I'd have to say the old one. I like the exaggerated ears. It feels more like LEGO doing their own spin on Batman rather than trying to look as exact as possible. I guess it's kind of similar to how I always preferred LEGO accessories that were oversized compared to the minifigure (i.e. I prefer the old wrench to the newer, smaller, weaker utilities). That said, if they permanently replaced the old one with this newer one I wouldn't be upset or anything. They both look good to me.

Oh I know it's nothing new, but I still hate it. Kids aren't that stupid either and shouldn't be treated like they are. If they don't get something to work right they hopefully have parents who can help them figure out what's wrong. I had a bunch of sets when I was a kid too that had the sliding garage door and those sets didn't pretend kids are idiots. But yeah, it won't be too much to have those pieces replaced with proper bricks, but it's still really off-putting. It certainly made me go from "maybe" to "no".

That castle looks so amazing. It must be mine.

Now that I've had a closer look at the pictures I can't believe this set is using so many "leftover" bricks. Walls made up of grooved pieces where it serves no purpose other than to make it look terrible.. Just wow. I would've considered buying it since despite some issues it still looks nice overall and there'd be plenty you could do with it to modify it.. Definitely going to pass on it seeing all those "wrong" pieces being used.

Great-looking marines, although why not simply use the same armor/helmet as the Galaxy Patrol CMF? If you were to hit 10,000 and LEGO agreed to make it, I would personally think LEGO would demand that they want to use the Galaxy Patrol's gear since they already have molds for them. The fewer new molds they'd have to make, the higher the chance to get it approved, I would think!

The helicopter is definitely way too big. I think it would've looked much nicer with a helicopter of this size and then made it so you could attach the stretcher to the side of it, like in M*A*S*H. Even if that wouldn't be exactly realistic, it'd still look pretty cool with an ambulance helicopter like that. And it would've fit the hospital's size better. Anyway, great review!

Glad the Orc Forge is the exclusive set since I have no desire to get it.

I don't think it's necessarily that they're catering to Americans (ambulances come in many different colour combinations there) so much as going for that iconic look most associated with ambulances. The ambulances in my country have been neon-yellow/blue for decades, yet if someone asked me to draw an ambulance I think it'd still draw it red and white.

Don't have a huge interest in the miner sets, but I do love the minifigure designs and their hardhats.

The doctor's botched leg prints are some serious YIKES. It doesn't even look close. Can't believe LEGO would release a figure with such sub-standard printing.

This Crazy Demon begs to differ.

Damn, how can these be in stores already? It's not even May.. I thought these weren't coming out for another couple of months??

It's kind of unfair to compare it to the old Batcave. That one had nearly 400 pieces more and could obviously do a whole lot more because of that. Trim that Batcave down to 700 pieces and I think they'd be just about equal. I like this Batcave a lot. I think it was wise of them to make it more colourful this time around. The old Batcave was a bit too black and grey (even if that's obviously accurate to being a cave). This new Batcave just looks more fun and inviting. A bit more cartoon-y, in a good way. I do think it's a shame that they didn't include Alfred though. With nearly 700 pieces and only 4 1/2 minifigures I think this one deserved another one. I say 1/2 because Bruce Wayne feels more like just a prop for the transformation feature, plus you can't really play with both Bruce Wayne and Batman at the same time. Alfred would've been a perfect addition, and you'd had two villains, two heroes and poor old Alfred caught in the middle. I would've also liked to have seen an Alfred modeled after the old, gray-haired Alfred from the Michael Keaton Batman era. Other than that, great set, and thanks for the review!

So I was looking at the review of the new Big Ben Architecture set and I couldn't help but feel that it looks way too skinny and oddly proportional being 3-wide. So I decided I'd re-do it in the same style (more or less) but in 4-wide. Then I got a little carried away and made the clock part 5-wide so it looks even more like the real thing. I'm quite pleased with it, but I'm no MOC-building expert by any means either. The only thing I wished looked better would be the lower section of the roof which isn't that tall in reality. Too bad (and really odd) that LEGO doesn't make those corner slopes in 2-brick height. 329 pieces. (Click for bigger)

That partial wall (and assault wagon) is a trope of LEGO Castle sets though. It follows in the footsteps of the 6061 Siege Tower from 1984, the 6062 Battering Ram from 1987, the 6059 Knight's Stronghold from 1990, 7037 Tower Raid from 2008 and most recently the 7948 Outpost Attack from 2010 (and possibly others I'm forgetting). I can understand that most people look at the Uruk-hai Army set and don't get excited about it compared to the others, but in a way it's the most traditional LEGO Castle set of all the LOTR sets (especially since Helm's Deep isn't really a castle). Any LEGO Castle fan who knows their history should be excited about it, as far as I'm concerned!