Etzel

Wow, I really didn't expect the one-piece Beorn head-hair combo. I'll better stay a pessimist next time. I can't get my head around how LEGO has thought about this, pieces are supposed to be versatile and useful! But the Lake town guard polybag sounds great! Not that they are available over here but at least it should bring down the price of the minifig on BL.

I call megablocks on the one-piece Beorn head theory. You are drawing conclusions from one single CG image that has been heavily retouched, and compared to all other images of the minifig I found nothing that suggests that it should be a hairpiece with printed face. When I look closely at the set pictures I see the crease between the hair and head and I find it very hard to believe that LEGO would do anything other then the head+hair combo.

I built a traditional Scandinavian "julbock" or Yule Goat. They are usually made of straw and red ribbons and are placed under the Christmas tree, but I made it of lovely ABS plastic and gave it a string to be hung at. Thanks for doing this tradition again, CopMike! I hope I will be as lucky as the other years, I think I've got a price every time.

That was the wackiest line-up of minifigs I've ever seen. I want them all! It's not as good as some of the original Collectible Minifig Series of course, and I didn't expect them to be. But I must say that I'm pleased with what I see and some of the new parts look amazing.

1 set will be enough for me. The elves in this set doesn't strike me as army building material, with the lack of armour and helmets. The orcs are worse than those that comes in the Dol Guldur Ambush set which I might get two of instead. I only bought one of the Uruk-Hai Army too, but I bricklinked some extra Rohan soldiers. I liked that set better than MEA since it had better minifigs and better pieces overall. It's not surprising that most people go for 1-2 and there is a very simple explanation: the cost. Army building is expensive and most of us are pleased with just a small patrol of maybe 6-8 soldiers. More than that is usually not needed to give the impression of a small army unless you are building bigger than a 48x48 baseplate.

Truly wonderful! The few pictures here doesn't do the build justice since there are so many great details all over. I'm still a little ashamed that I never got around to build any modules for this layout, but I'll do my best to contribute to the next display.

So good to see that CUUSOO made the smart decision and skipped all the licensed ideas in favour of the fan-made exo-suit. I had almost lost hope in CUUSOO as a project, but now I might be paying a bit more attention to it. Still, the amount of unoriginal licensed ideas is way too high.

Truly magnificent, Gabe! The amount of work that has been put into this is really something, all those different details that comes together so perfectly are not coincidences. Absolutely extraordinary!

Great to see some quality pictures! I've been trying to wait for them and not speculate about whatever might come. Seeing these I'm most pleased with the smallest one, Dol Guldur Ambush. It has an abundance of good and useful pieces, dark grey slopes is always useful. The new orcs looks very good and that they come with hairpieces in this set is a huge plus. Last but not least, we have Beorn, and as a swede I can't pass on getting Mikael Persbrandt as a minifig, totally awesome! Mirkwood Elf Army is good too, but I honestly hoped for something more in terms of minifigs. Some armour and helmets would've been very welcome even though I really like the dark green hoods. Only 2 shields is a bit disappointing too, and the tree needs a lot more leaves I think. Overall, not the same standard as DGA or Lake-town Chase, but I'll probably still end up with it. Dol Guldur Battle is just a bigger version of DGA and while I did like the smaller set, I think the bigger one should stand out a bit more. The fact that the orcs lack hair or helmets is a big let down in this set, and I'm not a fan of Azog either (neither as a minifig or as a character in the movie). Radagast looks like he could be a nice minifig, but I'd like to see him from more angles first. The Necromancer looks quite good, could be useful for many different "scary" characters. Best minifig in my opinion is the statue, it looks superb with great detail. I would say the DGB disappoints in minifigs but is a really good parts pack for normal dark grey pieces, but overall I can't find any big selling point in it for me. Keep in mind that this website normally has prices a bit under retail price, about 10-33% less.

I agree with the rest of the team, great job CMP! I had fun playing and I liked in particular the NPCs and the battles, but the highlight of the quest was of course the special effects!

"Thank you, Mr Dash. It was a smart move to hire us for today, otherwise your co-workers might have ended up poisoned or worse. I hope we have proved that Heroica heroes can do their job, no matter what may come their way." Maurice leaves as well. Today had been a long day and he wouldn't mind a hot meal and a comfortable bed before setting out on new adventures.

Maurice looked with anger on Thalion and Hybros. "How can you even consider give back the parts when you have seen what may be made from them? One less machine of murder and mayhem is something everyone should stand behind. And if it hurts the Ji Pei, well that's even better. Worse people can't be found in Eubric!"

"That sounds like a really bad idea! If those Ji Pei weirdos are those who created this automaton that we had to risk our lives to destroy, I see no reason for why we would help them get it back. I don't think you should "study" these pieces either, professor. Death and mayhem are the only things that will come out of those, I tell you. Master Thalion, lets dump the pieces of this disgusting machine in the sea where they can do no damage."

"I guess he exaggerated a bit, but I honestly don't care that much about what the Guild of Invision do. You can dabble with your brews and potions all you want, just don't do anything like we saw today."

"Stand back, everyone! I'll deal with with!" Maurice de-equips the White cloak again and puts on his new Sterile Gloves. Then he pulls out a Fire bomb and stuffs it down the throat of the Plague Doctor. "Take cover, it's gonna blow!" OOC: totally okay if this doesn't work, but I wanted to try at least.

"Well, if we are going anywhere I'm not going to carry this piece of metal junk any more." says Maurice and drops the AIUPIIUP and re-equips his white cloak.

Thank you so much for this review, Penkid! I'm not a huge fan of Chima, but I really like to read reviews about the sets to get some nice detailed views on minifigs, special parts, interesting designs etc. One of the most interesting aspects of this set to me is the amount of bright light orange bricks and slopes. Nice to see that a rare colour like that gets more useful pieces. I also like most of the detailed minfigs and I've already bought the Ewald torso and slope piece of Bricklink. Some parts of the temple is also nicely design, most notably the left tower that has its own type of design that I find very fitting with the Lion tribe in Chima. Too bad that stuck that horrible missile on top of it. I'm also not a fan of any of the vehicles or the fact that the temple structure is built by technic bricks and have an overall spindly look. Definitely not a set I would buy for more than 50% off, but I'm happy that it provides some good pieces, nice minifigs and a little inspiration for future builds.

It can't, that's the point and makes perfect sense. Seeing as how many players are involved in discussing this I'd say it's a quite big issue. Also, look at the latest battle in #82 and tell me nostrum isn't over-powered to near-game-breaking levels.

"That shield and a remedy would be nice." Maurice looks around to see if Red, Wally and the alchemist are fine.

Maurice was pleased to see that his guardian angel had appeared to help them in their battle. Things would be so much easier if it was always around though..., he thought while once again attacking the Plague Doctor from the front row.

Maurice repeats his attack.

Maybe I'll just shut up instead.

CMP, how come Ithea is Mechanic but the Masked Man is not? I thought he was the one that was an automaton.

OOC: Okay, I thought the stun chance on my weapons could've worked on Moroul, but if you have a plan I'll follow that. Maurice changes target to the Plague Doctor instead.

"Hey, how come I'm stuck with the heavy machine yet again? It should be someone else's turn now." Maurice will attack Moroul from the front row.