Rufus

I've had a thought on this. I think it might be easier/cheaper for Lego to fill a set with as few types of pieces as possible. I noticed in the new 8092 Landspeeder set that they used 2 1x2 slope pieces rather than 1 2x2 piece; the set contains 6 1x2 slopes: perhaps it's easier to request 6 of one piece from the sorter than 4 of one and 1 of another. Just speculation... any one on the inside know anything more concrete?

(imagining it in Cornish accent) Blimey, you make me feel old.... I've still got the box!! I've given up telling them it's for my nephew/godson etc. My friend has a youngster but he's only Duplo age.

It strikes me that all this talk of bending the rules for maturely-posting underage kids will only encourage others to break them. Personally, I think that EB should publicly stand by its rules; generally, the mods seem to be doing a very good job.

375!! One of my first Lego sets. It was the first set I took care of and didn't chew; though most of the pieces are lost now, I still have the box somewhere! There was something magical about this big set, with lots of figs, and a big red working drawbridge. I've never collected Castle since, but even if I did this would get my vote. R

Nice, very detailed! I don't normally comment on non-canon MOCs, but this caught my attention. I've never seen so many controls in any lego spaceship. Where did you get the front windscreen parts? I'm not so sure about the rear Tie windscreen, but that's a minor point.

Yeah, you've got a point, especially as Greedo is gold dust now. However, if like me you missed out on 4501, you might well settle for the new one.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone, and thanks KimT for indexing, adding a poll and for frontpaging! The UK price didn't seem too steep for me (I bought it, after all!); I think there's not another SW set currently available that'll get you 5 figs for £25. But then this was a set I needed to fill a hole in my collection; to anyone who already owns a landspeeder this might seem too much to fork out. Compared to the £40 Tie Defender this seems a bargain. I don't think we should get too hung up on relative prices between countries; this seemed reasonable for the UK and whenever I'm in Europe I'm horrified by how expensive Lego seems. I would have liked a bit more detail on the speeder. I might try to mod it at some point. Reason for edit: clarifying what I meant

Fair point. I was all ready to quote the 8129 AT-AT as proof that the 10212 figures will be from a different set; but as far as I know 8129 is still only a rumour. However, I'd be surprised if the 'Shuttle Pilot' figure didn't come with a shuttle!

Me neither, but you're doing a good job so far JD. I like the way you've done the eyes. I'd just suggest more of a bridge to the nose, and get the jaw to protude more: this pic is just a toy helmet, but makes the point: Good luck!

Happy 2010, Eurobricks! I picked this up the other day from Lego Bluewater: Set Number 8092 Name Luke's Landspeeder Movie Episode IV A New Hope Year of release 2010 Parts 163 Minifigs 5 S@H Price £24.99 | US$24.99 | AU$49.99 | EUR 26.99 Shop @ Home says: I missed out on the two previous incarnations of the Landspeeder, so I was looking forward to this, particularly as I don't have an OT Obi-Wan or Tattooine Luke. How does the set measure up? Pics are low-res for speedy loading. In keeping with tradition, we'll start with the box: Front: Back: A nice little action display for the back, showing off the few features of this set, along with advertising for the battle packs and Freeco Speeder. The side of the box shows a 1:1 representation of Luke: The little blemish you can see on his chin was present on my figure; I don't know if it's meant to be there but it looks like a misprint to me. Inside the box, you get three bags, the instructions, two loose grey tubes and no stickers. (apologies for the blurry pic; there's not a lot of daylight on the Ice Planet of Hoth in the UK at the moment.) Parts: Lots of Republic red here. I don't know about you but I'm up to my ears in dark red tiles at the mo. Pieces of interest include the new 1x1 side-stud bricks (6 of them in dark grey); the curved windscreen from the Indy boat chase, and 2 trans-clear 1x1 round bricks that make up the stand for the little droid. Then there's lots of tan plates, and the usual cheese wedges and radiator grilles. The minifigs: Probably what most people will get excited about. We have Tattooine Luke, with printed legs and curtain hairstyle (and chin blemish, you can just about see). Obi-Wan has wrinkles (he looks like Governor Tarkin with a beard) and usual Jedi torso, no cape. My new-style R2 is quite badly misprinted. Two blue-bladed 'sabers in pearl silver. No printing on the backs, except for 3PO: C-3PO is similar to the one in the Sandcrawler, pearl gold, except the printing on mine is lighter: (new one on right) The stormie, with black pauldron and backpack, is a nice addition, shown off in this little vignette: Ben: I'm telling you, these aren't the droids you're looking for! Stormie: Yes they are, my instructions clearly say 'a paler-than-usual protocol droid and a badly misprinted astromech!' Ben: You wanna fight about it? (aside to Luke) Pass me my lightsaber. Luke: It's locked in the speeder's compartment! Stormie: For some reason I've got two spares you could use: Ben: Bley?! No thanks. I'll just have to use the force. (waves hand) 'These aren't the droids....' A spy robot thingy with clear stand makes up the last of the party (I haven't counted him as a minifig): Moving on to the speeder: The build The instructions are very simplistic, only a few parts per step, doesn't really need the callouts but I'm not complaining (again, apologies for the blurry pic): The build progresses quickly, a half hour tops. I struggled a little getting the second grey tube to stay in, but not too much: Black rounded 2x2 plates make the speeder 'hover': Clearly the speeder is British, judging by the right hand drive Note two 1x2 slopes in the centre. Why use one brick when two will do ? You can see in this shot, the left engine is designed to look 'coverless', as in the movie, which Lego has pulled off with some success. Another oddity: the side engines are attached using 2x2 corner bricks. Why? An interesting technique is used to invert the studs on the top engine: The lightsaber compartment: good to have somewhere to put them! And finally, the completed set, arranged to look like the cover shot (I've deliberately left the colour dark, to give it that 'Tattooine feel': Overall Well, there you are. This set probably isn't going to set the world alight, but it's nice to have a good selection of figures in a reasonably priced set. Most people who get this are probably after Luke, and possibly the Sandtrooper. The speeder is nice, a bit simple; it's not a patch on some of the MOCs out there (I'm looking at you, Lars), and to be honest I prefer the look of the sandred one from 4501, which I don't own. Design Simple, reasonably accurate speeder, fills a whole in my collection; I like the use of the curved windscreen 3/5 Build Very easy build, about 30 mins, no real challenge 3/5 Playability You can recreate the mind-trick scene! Yay! I guess with 5 figs plus the little droid, saber compartment, and carpet-swooshable speeder, this scores quite highly 4/5 Parts Those 1x1 side stud bricks are going to be common as anything before the year is out. And I don't need more dark red. 3/5 Minifigs This is what the set is about! New Luke, rare Obi-Wan, and a nice Stormie! Not complaining about another 3PO, either. (Oh, and another R2. Woo-hoo) 5/5 Price £25 seems quite a lot in the UK. Blast you, weak pound!!! I think this is good value, for the figs alone. 4/5 Overall score 22/30 73% Hope you enjoyed the review! Rufus

The more I think about it, the more I think a larger-scale shuttle, without platform, is more likely. Its number is 10212; all the SW 10xxx sets have been UCS or large system-scale models like the motorised AT-AT or the Tantive IV. The recent large diorama/playsets (Endor battle, Home One) have had 'ordinary' numbers. The exception is the Cloud City set, so anything's possible, I suppose...

Thanks for the great review, nice pics! Do the wings wobble like on the Tie Interceptor? I might get this, if only because I'd like to MOC a regular Tie, which I don't own.

Seconded, Dr D! I was like a kid, couldn't wait to build it. Started opening the box in the car, but then remembered I was driving. I've had a number of requests for scans of the sticker sheet for the RBR, so when I get a mo I'll post both. Rufus

I sincerely hope they don't use the inclusion of a base as an excuse just to rehash the two previous shuttles. I'd much rather a stand-alone, detailed shuttle than another of those. I can't see them producing a big detailed shuttle and a base. If it is UCS, it won't be to scale with the UCS Falcon. Lamba shuttles have massive wings!

I have no idea what you said there, but this is a fantastic MOC. The cockpit is wonderfully detailed, and I'd love to know how you got the Z angles on the wings. Beautiful!

A long time ago* in a galaxy** far, far away... * 10 years ** err... ok, Ipswich It was a dark time for Rufus' Lego collection. All the Technic and train sets had been sold to the evil CAR BOOT TRADER, and the classic space base was boxed away, never to grace the galaxy again. Even the beautiful 7130 SNOWSPEEDER had not quite enticed Rufus back to the Lego fold. But there, on a small advertising leaflet, deep in the bottom of the 8448 Supercar box, Rufus found a little picture that would irrevocably change his destiny ... Name: Ultimate Collector Series X-Wing Fighter Number: 7191 Parts: 1298 Minifigs: 1 (More on that story later) Scale: 1:28 Year: 2000 Price: I paid £109, IIRC, from TRU in Ipswich in 2000 This is it: the set that put an end to my dark age for good. I had never seen any Lego thing like this: so beautiful; so accurate; so big. Lego has gone from strength to strength since the release of this masterpiece, but 7191 for me is still up there with the best. Am I right? Read on, and see if you agree… The box: Front Black and white, like most early UCS sets, in relief and with some nice detail: Mine’s a little battered around the edges, but it is 10 years old! Back A nice colour pic, with some stats around the side. No piece count though. The box opens with a lifty lid, no tear tabs, and as you can see it’s reinforced around the edges. About two thirds of the space is used: Instructions: Wedge is here to help demonstrate. The instruction book sports the same picture as the box front: Instructions are for the most part clear, with piece callouts and extra detail for the tricky technic bits: Colour issues hamper the ‘structions from time to time, mainly with differentiating between black and dark grey. I remember the first time I built this having to dismantle the whole model for a dark grey 2x4 plate I’d used instead of black early on. A blast from the past! Two sticker sheets, I’m afraid, and STAMPs are rife in this set: (STickers Across Multiple Pieces) Until I can find a way of replicating these, and applying them so they can be removed without leaving gum residue, they’ll stay on the sheets. It’s a shame as these, in particular the canopy decal, would really add to the realism of the model. Parts Some interesting pieces; the canopy I believe is unique, and the round dark grey piece makes me think of a plant pot. The grey and tan round things look like tank ‘wheels’, and the 90 degree bracket takes me right back to Classic Space… Some pieces haven’t withstood the ravages of time so well: You can just about see it’s cracked at both sides. The build: Part One – The nose Construction is similar to the newer System-scaled X-Wings, with hinges used to taper the nose. Angle brackets and tiles add definition, but unlike the early 1999 x-wing they haven’t captured the hexagonal cross-section of the nose. The black cones at the bottom represent the torpedo launchers. The rather phallic nose cone is a little blocky. This was before the advent of curve slopes. The finished front section, with Wedge for comparison: Part Two – The body The entire opening mechanism resides in this rear part. Like 4502 and 6212, a screw-cog gearing system is used, but as you can see the method of attaching the wings is very different. The blue Technic elements are the sole anchor for the wings using two cross axles per wing, an arrangement which is not ideal for strength. In addition, the weight of the wings dictates that the blue elements need to be angled upwards slightly, and I have worried about the strain this will cause ever since I first built it. They seem to be okay, though! The completed rear section, with some lovely greebling on top. Part Three – The base This is meant to be the cargo bay, but you can’t fit much in there. Like the top of the body section, the slopes are a nice detail. The black hoses at the rear are under considerable strain; mine are now permanently bent to about 90 degrees. The hole in the underside is for the stand. Part Four – The wings Sorry, Wedge, this is Luke’s Red Five. These wing sections are identical, top and bottom, so best ignore the instructions and build in batches. I like the fence-pieces used as venting on the underside. The engines The round piece at the front I haven’t seen elsewhere, but is presumably the forerunner of this: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?q=41531 The two dark grey cross axles will marry with the blue elements on the body to attach the wings. The weapons As Wedge will testify, these things are huge! Each laser is unique, defined by the colour of the tread-hub piece and the smooth or rough hosing. A few more bits And the wing is complete: Part Five – The stand This is similar to the other UCS stands, and identical to the one in the 7181 Tie Interceptor. I lets you pose the model flying level or climbing slightly. The complete model Looks pretty good! I think, for such an early set, Lego got this spot on. There are only a few flaws, which I’ll deal with now. The minifig R2 is way too small – he looks a bit silly. They’d have been better off using a 4-wide dome (as found in engines of the Y-wing sets) integrated into the model. As it is, R2 stands too high and prevents the cockpit opening fully. I’ve already mentioned the weak wing attachment. If you accidentally knock the model, there’s a good chance a wing will fall off. The model will then overbalance, and you’ll spend weeks collecting pieces from corners of the room (or worse still, the Hoover). The other problem is gravity, or lack of it: if you place the model on its engines, the wings do not sit level: Kinda reminds me of a Klingon Bird of Prey. Don’t even think about turning it upside down! A few more shots: Wings open Rear view – the flag pieces help to keep the wings apart, and I think was a quick fix. Here it is compared to the original model (apologies to the owner of this photo) You can see in this comparison the attention to detail that the designers have put into this model: the greebling on the back looks perfect; even the differing designs of the laser guns is captured. The scale is nearly perfect (except for poor R2!) and the use of white vs grey is as good as can be with Lego. Overall Design Accuracy, in terms of scaling and use of colours, is near-perfect. The nose looks blocky now, but is probably as good as could be done in 2000. It loses out only in the weak wing attachment and silly R2-D2 scale. Build Entertaining, and varied; even the wing builds don’t seem to repetitive. And, unlike some of the larger UCS sets, you have always got the end in sight. Playability You can swoosh this; it’s not too heavy for adult arms at least. I confess I have enacted space battles with this and the UCS Interceptor; just don’t turn it upside down with the wings flat, or they’ll flap around. Otherwise, it sits very happily on the shelf! Parts Nothing too exciting, unless you need lots of white plates, but you could make flower bowls out of the engine exhausts, if you felt that way. Price £109 seemed a little frivolous back then; nowadays I wouldn’t think twice about spending double that! You get a lot of Lego for your money, and then there’s the resale value – this thing sells second hand on Amazon for over £500. I’ve not scored these; it’s far too subjective. For me this remains one of the best sets Lego has ever produced, faults notwithstanding; it was the original UCS set, and if it weren’t for 7191 I probably wouldn’t be collecting Lego today. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the review. I’ll leave you with a view of 7191 keeping the RBR company on the shelf.

:laugh: Thanks for bumping this - I'd have been unlikely to see it otherwise. Awesome take on Top Gear! Love the Hamster.

Previously I've only bought Clone Wars stuff when I've run out of 'Classic' sets to buy, but some of the 2009 sets (thinking mainly of the Attack Shuttle) are great sets in their own right. This year Lego look like they're aiming to capture the centre ground, with figures & sets that will fit in either category, which is great news for all of us. The use of dot eyes on the ARC pilots, and the PT-style Clone helmet in the Swamp Speeder are examples. Bad news if you like consistency, though!

Nice, though you can see the influence of Jerac and Lars!! Your snowspeeder looks like a scaled-down version of the 2003 UCS.

Is that a chrome-silver lightsaber hilt Luke is holding? Tho' Ben's looks more like pearl.

Hi everyone. I was inspired by the idea of a Lego song in the 'Any musicians' thread to ask this question: Have you come across any released song tracks that mention Lego? I can think of two: 'Long Time Coming' - The Delays 2003: 'Threw your Lego in the lake, what you wanna go do that for?' 'Foundations' - Newton Faulkner (a tongue-in-cheek version of Kate Nash's song, on the Radio 1 Live sessions Cd) - '...my fingertips are moudling into the shape of a crustacean, and I try to play with Lego but I can't' I'm sure there must be more!

Get used to it! I'm with you on this - your theory is the same as mine, only mine referred to the Wampa attack and this year's Echo Base. No-one commented on that either.

Bluewater up north?? It's in Kent! I'm really impressed with the 2010 line-up so far, and they seem to have pushed the ESB boat out. It's actually quite a smart move by Lego to put a Snowspeeder in the Wampa attack and Han & Tauntaun in this year's Echo base - ensuring people will buy both to recreate the scene. All we need now is a trans-blue Ben. And finally, I can get a Boba Slave I, having missed out on the 2006 version. Bring on 2010!

Thanks for the review, good work! I don't really 'get' helicopters, though I liked the one with the transporter. This one is a bit large, and having no great forest to speak of I have no forest fires to worry about. Ignoring the fire logo, it is a nice helicopter that could be adapted as a search-and-rescue or passenger chopper, perhaps if it weren't so red. I do love the 4x4: the Range Rover that came with the horse box is one of my favorite vehicles, and I might just have to get this for the truck.

I spotted the Tie Defender in Lego Bluewater (UK) today. There may have been more, but Mrs Rufus wouldn't let me look around in case it would compromise my Christmas present.