MKJoshA

The story was totally worth reading all the way through! A little unbelievable. But I love the way you share the different perspectives. Your snub fighter is a nice design. Feels a little blocky, but overall nice. I think it's the transitions that make it look blocky. And your micro ships are great. Love the CIS landers!

Love your use of mixel joints to get the TIE Bomber wings just right. And of course everything else you build is amazing too!

Your story telling is top notch! And you've complimented @goatman461's Muunilinst style very well.

Love your use of the windshield parts for the view screens!

Wow. The building has such am obviously Separatist feel to it. It's so good!

Wow, thanks for sharing that. Time to move to Germany I guess.

Since 2010 TLG has been releasing seasonal sets that usually focus on either the four seasons or four big holidays (Valentine's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). So 2020 marks the 10th year Lego has been giving us these kinds of sets. How does this year's Winter set measure up? Set Information Name: 40424 - Winter Snowball Fight Theme: Holiday & Event Year: 2020 Pieces: 149 Minifigures: 2 Price: £? / $12.99 / ?€ Resources: Brickset and Bricklink The year's snow infused scene has a very modular feel to it. The front of the box shows an inviting playful scene between two children. The back of the box shows almost every possible play opportunity in the set. The side of the box is a little plain, but nicely shows off the male minifigure included in the set. Inside the box we find 3 unnumbered bags and the instructions. No stickers. We have a number of pieces of note outside of the minifigures themselves. Light Aqua is still a relatively rare color for parts. So it's nice to get a few in this set. The tan 6L bar has only been in 3 sets before now, all of them larger sets. We get 2 in this set. The trans-blue tooth place is brand new this year and only appears in 1 other set. The first minibuild we create is the snowman. I like the use of the bracket and jumper-plates to make spots for the coal buttons. However, it does lead to a pretty blocky looking snowman when we're done. The building process and the instructions are very straightforward. It always make me grin when I see these warnings though. I have two young kids and they've never managed to hit each other using Lego play features. Better safe than sued though, right? There are two minigures and a dog included. Both kids have new torsos for this set, though I believe that everything else is re-used. Both torsos have printing on the back. The girl has a double sided head with a playful grin. The boy sports a red Ushanka hat which debuted in 2018. The girl uses the "Katniss Everdeen" hair which fits nicely over her scarf. Now that the fashion show is over, it's time to play! Finishing the snowman you can see how blocky it is. The orange horn is used as a nose. Lego used this piece for the exact same purpose back in 2010's Advent Calendar. Since then we've seen Unikitty horns and actual carrots used for a nose. So why this reversion to an orange horn? Could it be a subtle nod to the 2010 origins of this line of sets? Personally I think a Unikitty horn would be better. I will say though that the Modified 3x2 Plate with Hole in red is a nice piece for the scarf. After the snowman is complete, it's time for a break! The little table holds mugs of (presumably) hot liquid and cookies. After the kids are warmed up, it's time to build their bases! The girl is apparently on the blue team, as her waving blue flag suggests. Her fort is made up of 1x2 round plates and looks amazing! It's subtle, but by using 2 plates on top of each other instead of alternating every line the designer has made a more realistic looking fort. Off to the side of the fort is a catapult for launching snowballs. The boy, on the red team, is a little less practical when it comes to building his defenses. Instead he goes straight for the offense. His slide contraption will hopefully give him the element of surprise in the snow battle to come. I love the use of the trans-blue tooth as ice. I just wish we got more than 1 tooth in the set. Also, the light aqua is an interesting color choice. It invokes a sense of cold, but I've never seen snow look like that. It works great under the trans-blue tooth as a super-subtle accent color. But as a surface color I think it falls short. The lever in the back can be used to push the sled down the slope. This gives us the completed set. It's a nice little collection of scenes that fit well together. The story-telling and play are obvious in a good way. The snowman is a little clunky, but overall the set looks nice... from the front. But how do they look from the back? As is usually the case, these small sets suffer some when viewed from behind. Except the snow fort, that looks amazing from any angle! There is a blue crystal hidden under the red team's hill. The back of the box even shows the two kids discovering the crystal as a play feature. But it's the snowman who really looks bad from behind. Not only is he still blocky, but now there's a giant hole in his head. A single white stud could have fixed this problem. It's too bad they didn't add that part. Final Thoughts: So is this set for you? Playability: 8/10 - Obviously you're not going to have as much play value in a $12 set as you would in a $50 set. But for what you get I think the set designer did an excellent job adding playability. Building Experience: 6/10 - The snow fort is fun to build, but other than that there is nothing to write home about. Design: 8/10 - Again, grading with that fact that this is only a $12 set I think it's designed well. I have to take a few points off for the snowman though. Aesthetic: 9/10 - It looks like a fun snow scene. It looks like two kids having fun. So aesthetically I think it ticks all the boxes. I'm only knocking a point for the aqua blue. Minifigures: 6/10 - The new torsos are great, but there is nothing else outstanding about these figures. Price: 8/10 - It's just over the $0.10/piece threshold. And it has a decent selection of parts. Nothing as great as the 2015 line of seasonal sets, but it's decent. Verdict: 7.5/10 - If you want something to display on your mantle this winter. Or you just want to add to your Winter Village I think this set is a nice little addition. As far as I know you'll only be able to buy it from Lego.com or in brand stores. So there's no sense waiting for a sale. If you see it, pick it up! Thank you to The Lego Group who provided a copy of this set to review.

Wow, Lego seems to be back to the old method of not releasing all the new parts on day 1. There are almost none of the new molds and colors. I saw Dumbledore's beard in white from the CMF and that was about it. In other news, looks like my order from Aug 1st finally shipped.

Mine still says "In Warehouse." Though they charged my credit card last Fri. So I was hoping for an early shipping date. But no luck.

*Your entry has earned 13 XP* A squad of CorSec troops made it through Pyerce's defenses and landed on the surface of Bonadan. The focused on one of the mines where the Stormtroopers had set up a base. The stormtroopers fought valiantly. But in the end it was CorSec who won the fight and secured the area.

*Your entry has earned 14 XP* Blue Squadron launched from the Erso and prepared to engage. Pyerce's forces were using a modified TIE Defender with only two panels instead of three. It had less attack power, but made up for it with more maneuverability. Blue 2: He's right on top of me! I didn't even have time to extend my s-foils! Some more shots of the fighters:

*Your entry has earned 12 XP* The Erso, carrying New Republic troops and CorSec soldiers reverted from hyperspace. Bonadan lay before them. Admiral Ka'lor called out, "All ships, prepare to attack!" The Admiral's command chair hovered over the view port. He watched as the battle commenced. A detailed hologram of Bonadan's surface was projected behind him. Statisticians and strategists studied the surface to decide where to try to land their ground troops. No one wanted a repeat of Scarif.

*Your entry has earned 12 XP* The New Republic had taken to naming some of it's new ships after heroes of the Rebellion. The Erso was an MC85 Mon Cala Cruiser stationed at Abregado-rae. When the fleet was called up to fight Pyerce the Erso prepared to jump to hyperspace. "Prepare to launch! Prepare to launch!" was heard on all the loudspeakers. "Blue squadron, Hail squadron, to your ships!" Last minute repairs were being effected. Everyone was doing his or her part to ensure their pilots came home safely. *note to the judges, these A-wings were used in a SoNE entry a long time ago. You should probably only judge the hanger bay.

*Your entry has earned 7 XP* Mick's Story: While Mick was dragging Kale back to the Snarky Gundark, an urgent message arrived from CorSec's chief of operations, Corran. Mick was told to rendezvous with part of the New Republic fleet right away. The Snarky Gundark docked with the capital ship, Resolve, and Mick headed to one of the cargo bays. : Mick, glad you could make it so quickly. I must have misplaced your latest mission file. Where were you? : Anobis sir. : Doing? Training exercises with my team sir. : Right. Well, let me catch you up to speed. The New Republic has received word of a new threat, Pyerce. They've asked us to join their fleets in destroying some of his bases. I need the Snarky Gundark accompany them and assist in the battle. Corran laid out the details about Pyerce and gave Mick the specifics about his part in the plan. Mick felt bad about lying to Corran, but his side mission to find Kale hadn't been sanctioned by CorSec. And Mick knew it would be hard to explain why he had Kale in the Snarky Gundark's med-bay...

*Your entry has earned 11 XP* Mick's Story: Fuast had worked hard to earn favors while serving in the Empire. As the Empire began to fracture he began to call in those favors. While serving under Moff Mylore, Faust had omitted some details in his clerical reports. This allowed the Imperial ruler on Boranda to keep funds that otherwise should have gone to the Moff. Now Faust was calling in that favor to establish a base of operations in the sector. Being an Imperial run planet they knew how to give a proper welcome.

Original deadline was Aug 30th. We've extended it to Aug 31st. Good luck!

Bought 19 bags (all Target had left) and ended up with 13 of the figs! This is a great CMF and I'm thrilled with the designs and characters. I am curious why Hermione has reddish eyebrows though. Any thoughts?

I'll admit it. I'm an addict. I blame my fellow LUG member you first told me about it and then all of you for keeping it going!

I'm in IL near Chicago. I got this at the Woodfield Mall.

Check out our flagship video on our new Youtube page!

I bought online, if I see it in stores I'll mention it. It took me months to get a Mando Battle Pack. But all that required was patience waiting for the supply to catch up with demand. This set is unique in that it was a convention exclusive which means they have a far more limited amount of supply. Similar to the Darth Vader bust.

Just ordered my Bespin Duel from Target since Lego was out when I looked. Excited the set didn't sell out everywhere in the first few hours!

I ordered a big lot back on Aug 1st. It's been in warehouse all this time. This is the longest I've waited for them to ship. I blame it on COVID and the Mexico factory being closed.

This challenge only has the custom Mando up for grabs. The other custom figs are for future challenges.

Don't forget that our Episode Challenge ends in less than a week! Get your entries in for your factions. And don't forget about the physical prizes for this challenge. The custom Mandalorian is 1 of a series that you'll want to get your hands on: