MKJoshA

INTRODUCTION If the Friends line has some of the best overall sets, then the Speed Champions line has some of the best small scale detail techniques found in sets. With 800 pieces this set of Mercedes vehicles is the 4th largest Speed Champions set of all time, the biggest set that doesn't include extras like a race track, garage, or transport truck, and of course the largest of the 2024 line-up. But does bigger equal better in this case? Spoilers, yes, yes it does. SET INFORMATION Number: 76924 Title: Mercedes-AMG G 63 & Mercedes-AMG SL 63 Theme: Speed Champions Released: 2024 Part Count: 800 Box Dimensions: 35.4 x 19.1 x 11.8 cm Weight: 916g Set Price (RRP): £44.99/$44.99/€49.99 Price per Part: 5.6p/5.6c/6.2c Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX AND WHAT'S INSIDE My other review sets sent by Lego had the new paper bags, but this set still had the plastic. I'm sure we'll see more and more paper as Lego recently released a statement about further efforts to go green. But this shows that there are still some sets with plastic left to be sold. The sticker sheets were small considering this is a Speed Champions set. None of them were too obtrusive and I applied them all. THE BUILD I built the AMG SL 63 (the yellow one) first. I'll start off by saying I'm not a gear head. I know how to fix cars and have done some larger projects myself like changing the engine bolts, replacing struts, and fixing a fuel pump. But I don't follow car news and couldn't pick out makes and models like a normal car fan might be able to. I had to Google which car was the SL 63 and which was the G 63 for example. But I do know good Lego techniques when I see them and the SL 63 has them on full display. We start off with the new standard base for Speed Champions cars. Here you can see some of the extra egregious injection mold marks. We get some new parts and new prints. I really appreciate that the curved and sloped parts have prints instead of stickers. The front grill section uses a fantastic combination of clips, a bar, and neck brackets to create the minute details. The end result looks pretty good. The exposed stud under the rear view mirrors and the edge of the yellow bracket sticking out the back end are small eye-sores in what is otherwise a gorgeous convertible. The clips that allow the hood to open are the other eye-sore. I wish the designer had found a different solution. Under the hood we see a sticker on the engine which seems to indicate that it's eco-friendly. A fast search says its a 4.0-litre V8 biturbo engine. The car can comfortably seat 3. The overall look of the car is excellent, though it does feel oversized compared to system scale cars. The G 63 does not use the standard Speed Champions base and instead relies on a Technic frame. The entire chassis is built using a plethora of jumper plates to allow for half-step offsets throughout the build. The end result is a beefy yet sleek truck. Rear view mirrors, windshield wipers, detailed grill, offset wheel wells, angled back windows and chrome exhaust pipes make this the most detailed Speed Champions car I've ever built. We get a whole pile of cool parts. The plates in the 2nd picture are gun-metal grey. They add a slight color variation on the truck that's almost unnoticeable but shows an impressive attention to detail. The back-end shows how the back windows angle in just slightly. It makes the back window look a little off, but overall I think the design was the right choice. It's such a small angle, but the designer clearly went to great lengths to get the shape of the car just right and the end result is very impressive. The roof comes off to allow easy access inside. It can seat 4 and additionally has a spacious back compartment. The engine compartment hinge is much better hidden on the truck. Under the hood we see the same symbol on the engine as the convertible. The minifigures are not the draw, but they are unique to this set. Both drivers have aviators and specialized tops. Neither head has back printing, probably to allow them to wear cop hats in police sets. Now for a public service announcement. If you've been collecting Legos for more than 5 years you may have noticed a decline in quality, especially with the injection mold points or sprue marks. It didn't use to be this bad as you can see in this photo I sent to Lego CS: Injection marks have always been present in Lego, but they have gotten either more noticeable or even include rough edges around the mold point. I encourage you to ask Lego for replacements for any pieces that have really bad injection points. I've noticed they are especially bad on tiles and curved slopes. Lego's moto is "Only the best is good enough." Hold them to that. They will only change their production method if it starts to hurt them financially to keep using shoddy methods. OVERALL Paired together these vehicles are impressive. They each have minor flaws, the convertible more than the truck. But the attention to detail is incredible and I have to give the set full marks. They won't fit well with city sets as they are too wide, but as incredibly detailed models they are fantastic. SCORE How do I rate this set? DESIGN 9.9 These are amazing designs full of NPU. There are a few minor flaws, but this set is near perfect. BUILDING EXPERIENCE 10 As is to be expected with the Speed Champions line the building process is fun and filled with creative techniques. FEATURES 10 The intended feature of this set is to be a display model. In that it succeeds perfectly. But the cars are also functional and have impressive space inside for multiple minifigures. PLAYABILITY 10 You can't exaclty swoosh these, but you sure can Vroom! them. Plus the easy access to move minifgures around gives this set full marks for playability. PARTS 10 A great selection of unique, new or rare colored parts makes this an excellent set for part selection. VALUE FOR MONEY 10 800 pieces for $50 is a great deal. Add to that how great the set is and you have a real winner. FINAL SCORE: 10 Even if you don't like cars this set is a real gem. The building process is fun, the techniques are creative, and the end result looks stunning. This is one of the best sets I've come across and I highly recommend getting it if you have the chance.

I should have the map color coded tomorrow. But remember you can always look on the Public Sheet to see where things stand.

The designers for the Friends sets clearly have a fun time, a love of Lego, and a talent for design. I am more impressed by the Friends line every year and this set continues to raise the bar.

Fantastic creature! Love the color scheme. It really pops against your terrain.

Some really great details here. Your custom frog(?) alien is great. And the round fish tank is impressive.

Great perspective build! I love how the terrain matches your microbuild. And the mini temple is great.

The fallen pillar adds some great history to the storytelling. Great micro scene.

Wow, a grime but fitting end! Lovely walls.

I think it's a reliance on cheaper plastic or cheaper factories where the standards aren't as high. I'm not in the industry though so I can't tell you for sure. My guess is the Tiger will be over $10 on PaB. Lego's gotten smart and knows they can charge a premium. Yeah, having space for so much inside the truck is a testament to how well vehicle designs have been improving over the years. Yes, if you noticed I skipped the stickers on the 2x2 dark blue tiles. The internal ones I used, but the outside ones were too much for me. Your solution is a good one as it still matches the color scheme. A good point, the tiger cub will get released eventually and we'll all be back buying even more to complete the animal collection.

INTRODUCTION You may have seen Clone OPatra's review of the Jungle Helicopter set. I got the privileged of reviewing another Johnny Thunder Returns... I mean another City Jungle set. You may know it as the New Tiger set, but Lego's SEO efforts call it Jungle Explorer Off-Road Truck. SET INFORMATION Number: 40246 Title: Jungle Explorer Truck Theme: City/Jungle Released: 2024 Part Count: 314 Box Dimensions: 35.4 x 19.1 x 5.9 cm Weight: 510g Set Price (RRP): £24.99/$34.99/€29.99 Price per Part: 8.0p/11.1c/9.6c Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX AND WHAT'S INSIDE This was my first time getting the new paper bags in a set. You can also see the small sticker sheet. I was surprised to find that the tiger was loose in the box. If it shows up on Bricks and Pieces eventually I suspect it'll get shipped loose too. Better hope for no scratches. THE BUILD Bag one gives us the piece of jungle for the Tiger to roam on. Not very big but it feels more sufficient than the gorilla's habitat. A lime green frog is also included if you're counting exotic wildlife. Bags 2 and 3 give us the truck. The color scheme looks good with the SNOT tiles on the side giving it nice designs. The camera crane on the back feels unnecessary and adds odd bulk to the vehicle. We have a DSLR camera and a drone, is the truck camera really going to capture more than a drone? Maybe someone with real-world experience can enlighten me. Here you can see that the jungle tree towers over the truck. A detail that helps it feel like more than an afterthought in this set. Inside the truck is a monitor to show what the affixed camera is recording as well as a med kit and map. The back of the jungle is very plain. Though you can see the connection points designed to allow this piece to connect with the other Jungle sets. The bones scattered around the "cave" make you wonder how many other explorers have tried to take pictures and not made it back in one piece. Inside the chests built into the sides of the truck is a banana. I think some meat would be a better treat for the tiger. But I guess the snack is more meant for our adventures? Gotta snack healthy. If the banana doesn't please the tiger, the med-kit should help staunch the blood flow. Accompanying Johnny is another explorer and a doctor. I wish they would have brought back the old mold for Johnny's hat. But the fedora is okay. He's also missing his gun which was previously tucked into his belt. No shooting bad guys any more for Thunder. All 3 minigfiures can be found in the some of the other Jungle sets. So the real draw is the Tiger. The back of each figure is printed, though the heads are all one-sided. This isn't the first time Lego has done a tiger. The first being back in 2017 during the last jungle expedition. That cat was Chima orange and shared the mold with the panther, mountain lion, and female lion. It looked good but this one, with the fringe around the face, looks so much better. I didn't realize it till I opened the set but this tiger is actually the new Reddish Orange color. The triangle tile is regular orange. It's hard to see the difference in photos. But the slightly darker orange looks really good. Now for a public service announcement. If you've been collecting Legos for more than 5 years you may have noticed a decline in quality, especially with the injection mold points or sprue marks. It didn't use to be this bad as you can see in this photo I sent to Lego CS: Injection marks have always been present in Lego, but they have gotten either more noticeable or even include rough edges around the mold point. I encourage you to ask Lego for replacements for any pieces that have really bad injection points. I've noticed they are especially bad on tiles and curved slopes. Lego's moto is "Only the best is good enough." Hold them to that. They will only change their production method if it starts to hurt them financially to keep using shoddy methods. OVERALL This is a decent $30 set. You get 3 minifigures including Johnny Thunder, a tiger, and decent builds. The real draw is the tiger and at $30 it's nice to not have it locked behind a big price tag. SCORE How do I rate this set? DESIGN 8 The camera on the truck feels slapped on. But other than that it's a decent design. The jungle could have been a little bigger, but that would have meant a larger price tag. BUILDING EXPERIENCE 7 Nothing jaw-dropping but also nothing repetitive. FEATURES 7 A truck that can hold all 3 adventures at once, chests for storage, a tail-gate, and pose-able tiger. Would have been fun to have a large leaf that opened or closed over the cave entrance. But overall good features. PLAYABILITY 10 For kids this set has great play value. Chase the tiger or get chased. Stow and transport gear in the truck. Eat adventures with the tiger. I give full marks for playability. PARTS 9 You're not going to buy this as a parts pack, but when you inevitable part it out you get a good selection. VALUE FOR MONEY 7 For going prices this set is a good value. I wish it was $5 less, but it's not a bad value. FINAL SCORE: 8 If you want a tiger or just want to expand your jungle collection this is a good set. If you're only going to get one new Adventures/Jungle set I recommend this as you get Johnny as well as some other good additions.

Don't mini-mod. The thread should focus mainly on Lego discussion. But since we don't have any new sets or leaks the current discussion works. If we start creating pages upon pages of discussion about media then it will have gotten off track. But so far the comments about media have been minimal (compared to other parts of the forum with similar tendencies).

Some really great work with your snow and rock wall. Fantastic.

Yeah, you can only build with what you have. No problem there, just thoughts for future improvement if/when you get parts.

We are way off topic here. Let's move media discussion to the media topic.

I have caught up on all the current entries and will get the map updated soon. I need a couple other judges to finish with a few of the entries to have up-to-date scoring before I update it. Though you can always see where the map is at here. Sorry it's taken me all summer to wrap that up. I don't have my Legos unpacked and probably won't till after Christmas. But I've got my computer space set up and am back in business with running Mysteries! I'll be working on updating everything this week and then I'll be working on sheets and rule updates for 2.0. If you want to be a part of that planning process let me know (I'm assuming you'll be involved Yperio ). Active players usually have the best input to improve the game so keep the ideas coming.

Love the height and variety of your buildings. I'd suggest experimenting with some SNOT walls if you want to take your builds to the next level. Great story bit with "Jeopard." Love that

Very nice looking swamp. Still not a huge fan of the plain baseplate, but it's used to much better effect here. I'm not a fan of the coonskin cap here, but that's a minor quibble.

Fantastic story. Your treasure hunter stories are very compelling and add a great element to the SW universe.

Your Karrde is very well done. Love the bridge and good work changing it up for scene 2. I think the plain baseplate detracts from the build. But it's a small thing. I would actually recommend using a blue paper under the bridge instead of the baseplate if you can't brick build the water.

Great first entry! I went ahead and fixed your link on the form you submitted. If you use the post link next time you'll be all set.

I would say that if you haven't displayed your Cloudrunner here in EB before, we could let it slide that you displayed in on Flickr before. The idea behind that rule is to make sure people don't join the game and then post a bunch of old MOCs. That doesn't seem to apply to this situation. Let me know if you want to post a new topic with the Cloudrunner or just have it added to your score here.

Wow. Those buildings are amazing! It's all good, but I especially love the angled, orange pillars. And your story is great too.

Very nice use of pearl gold against the white. You just need a curved tile to finish off your base, it's driving my OCD crazy!

Love how you incorporated a changeling into your story. Great use of a minifig head swap between pictures to show that. And of course your build is outstanding. Love the variations in all the levels. And as part of M4 it gets x2 points.

The wake, the different colored and textured walls, and of course your ship are all amazing builds. Fantastic entry and since it was part of M4 you get x2 XP.