Search the Community

Hello, this is my Review of the new Lego Star Wars Set "Resistance Troop Transporter" (75140). Images of this "second wave"-set you can find right here. The Review is in German, this time. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me at any time. May the force be with you Andres

Hello fellow LEGO gaming fans. I am here today to post a review of the new and exciting LEGO Dimensions! As I am still so last gen, this will be for the Xbox 360 version of the game, but gameplay isn't different across platforms when it comes to the exciting bits. I will readily admit, the only games I really play are the LEGO games and Disney Infinity, so Dimensions has given me the best of both worlds. I hope this is an informative review that will assist you in choosing to purchase this game for yourself as an AFOL or for your children as a parent. From the LEGO Shop website we have the usual excitement building blurb: The price list is pretty much what you would expect for a video game with added peripheral items. UK £89.99 US $99.99 Europe €99,99 It is hard to really tell you if it is worth the cost. A price-pre-piece judgement isn't going to cut it when you're buying an Xbox 360 game, three of the chipped figure stands and the base that reads them. It is really not the best way to get the particular figures either. By all the usual AFOL standards, it is a bit of an enigma. So on to the reviews proper: A nice big game box, that you may see on the shelf in store. All the usual information one expects of a box for a game that is a little more than just the disc. The back is a bit more exciting, just look at all the logos of popular franchises and themes that are involved! Though the build picture does not capture the truth. The repetitive truth... The box top has that all important list of items to collect and enhance the game with. Ready to tell the kids all the other goodies they need to get and for you completists to check against. Inside the box there is everything you need to play the game. Reader, Dimension Gate Building Set, Game Disc, a little booklet that directs you to help and FAQ's and a larger sheet that is a double sided tick list of everything there is to collect currently. It is actually quite similar to a sheet included in Disney Infinity 2.0. That has all the collectable power discs pictured, so you know exactly what else you need to purchase The base, quite pleasingly, is not only compatible to LEGO from the two sets of four studs that are part of the structure. It measures 24 studs on the longest side and 18 on the shorter. As it matches with stud measures there is opportunity to construct all kinds of exciting surrounds Here is a picture. Portal The box is printed with more of the same artwork and another tick-box picture list of the exciting other sets to collect. Exciting, action packed artwork and a photo of the built model. As you can see, this is only for sale with the base game and not designed for re-sale. Yup. That is what you can collect and what's coming soon. It fills space and reminds you what to buy. Here we have the contents of the box. All the parts you need to build a portal and a teeny tiny Batmobile. The portal/gate set box has three numbered bags, the special modified plate that fits over the game-base, an instruction booklet and the DDS. Though it is only a tiny one and has survived intact here. Batman is not quite the same figure as his other appearances. While he has the 2015 minifig batsuit torso, the headgear is still the old version of the cowl with the chin bar. The capes for Gandalf and Batman are not the 2015 cape fabric either, but the old stuff we're used to. Wyldstyle is the same figure that appears in the Bad Cop Car Chase set. This time she also has the relic detector, a printed tile. Gandalf is the same figure from the Lord of the Rings LEGO sets, though bricklink cites the cape as a new part and therefore making a new figure. What sets these apart are the attractively printed game piece figure stands, or tags. They are thicker than a plate as they have to contain the chip that the game base reads. The printing is unique for each character, so you can easily take the figures away and still play or amuse yourself endlessly by putting the wrong figure on the base but the game still playing the correct character. Once more we also have an orange new-style brick tool. This looks like it will get a lot of use for the fiddly mini-build vehicles, save your fingernails! Bag 2 And now on to the gateway itself. Bag two has all the parts you need to build the gate. This has some wonderful printed shields with enigmatic symbols upon them. Plenty of azure, dark blue and transparent light blue. As you can probably tell from the many multiples of parts there is a lot of repeated building. A lot. The Build: It is a reasonable build process, a few neat techniques for a SNOT result. However it is very, very same-y. With the steps obviously created with children in mind there are a few pages taken in placing the "A" plates into a circle and a few of the steps are just placing 14 of the same part onto the build. Of course, a symmetrical repetitive design was going to need that sort of parts placement, so it isn't a fault really. Just monotonous and a little boring. The result is a pleasing gate design, however. As you can see, the dimension stones (The printed shields) are not in place on the portal. They hook onto the back! (I took the base away for this shot, no point in having all that cable in the way!) Mysteriously, the book ends with the advice that further building instructions will arrive in-game... This also explains why the shields are placed at the back of the portal to begin with, which seemed a little wasteful on first glance until my brother suggested that it was probably a game objective to collect and place the symbols on the gate. On to interesting parts! Lots and lots of lovely azure. The "A" plates are particularly great. By no means is this set an economical way to get the colour though. However, for now there are parts that are only in Dimensions: The afore mentioned printed relic detector tile. I'm a sucker for printed tiles, loved them since I was a child, and this is a rather clever one. This plate might have a lot of uses for a clever MOCist. While the design clearly intends it to sit over the central "stud" of the reader, there are at least four ideas I have for uses in at least as many different themes. Printed shields! Who can dislike printed shields? This time in transparent purple. Surely these mystery symbols will mean something? The game will explain all. I can see fans of SciFi, Techno-castle and EB's own Heroica the RPG desiring these lovely parts. There are a handful of basic parts appearing in new colours in this set too. Nothing super exciting or rare though, I can see them repeating in a myriad others if that isn't already the case. Build - 4/10. Placing 14 of the same part, three times, was frustrating for me and would certainly bore any children. Parts - 10/10. The shields and azure bumped the score high. Batmobile This was the contents of bag 3. I had to wait for the game to start building it. A lot of little parts to build a little model and a spare Batarang too. After completing some tasks in-game you require a vehicle. An instruction manual pops up on screen and off you build. Again, I would say they are simplified instructions and this time without the ability to quickly flick through a booklet. It is a cute little model though, a lot like a mini-kit you would collect in the Batman games. A clever use of small parts for big details. The new part used here is so far only in sets that are part of the Dimensions theme. A most wonderful new element for fans of vehicles. It is something I know that I have wanted for quite a while. All in all, I'd rate this little one a 9/10. Clever parts usage, a nice model to finish off with and a new part too. I would recommend that you have a tray or a nice surface to work with while playing though, the little parts for the little model are easier to corral when building. The Bat Blaster This is an upgrade you unlock and then purchase using studs and gold bricks. It will overwrite the toy tag information to make this an option when playing. Like in the other LEGO games when a character has multiple abilities, there is an option to change which Batmobile power/version you are using. Building only uses the exact same parts as the batmobile, so you needn't worry about the spare parts that came in Bag 3. It is a neat little build, taking about the expected number of steps on-screen. The design is... interesting. It looks like any one of the unusual Bat-vehicles out there that may have appeared in the gadget heavy 60s comics or the hundreds of random action figure tie-in toys that turn up (Neon talking street luge anyone?). It was well done considering it could only use the same parts that also form the Batmobile. The Sonic Batray When I heard the name I wasn't impressed. But this is pretty darn cool as far as random Bat-vehicles go, design wise anyway. The build is once again an on-screen booklet that takes far too long to page through (I'm impatient...). But the result is a Bat Ray that if it was in shades of black and really really dark grey, wouldn't look out of place in the Nolan-Verse Batman's motor pool. I would rate the builds an 8/10. The designers had a tough job turning one Batmobile into two other useful things that still looked "bat" enough. Th end result came out well. Parts 10/10 purely for how well everything is used and how the vehicle is depicted in such a small scale. Gameplay Much like any other LEGO game, you are a minifigure character in a world made of a mixture of LEGO built items you can break and regular graphics that you can't. I'm not going to share plot spoilers or cutscene information because they are half the fun of a game after all! I have been having a lot of fun playing through it though and always have a willing player two in the queue. You start off, of course, with the three included characters and the events that lead them to team up. An interesting (and slightly confusing) new dynamic is the use of the base. Unlike other games that use a reader like this, there is a lot more than just placing the figure you want and playing. The base lights up in a number of colours and this is used initially as a puzzle to start the game. There are also instances where you have to move the figure around the base to activate powers, warp around puzzles or escape traps. The sections light up in different colours to clue you in on where to go, but it makes for a lot of moving around! I'd advise that this can easily be a three player game if you've got a lot of extra hands hanging around to watch! Two player like any other LEGO game and an extra set of hands to move the figures around for you. As my brother theorised, part of the game is collecting the printed shields in game, to stick to the gate as you progress. This involves a modification of the Master Builder feature of past games. This time an instruction manual appears on screen and you use this to build the physical model. Another thing to mention are the vehicle tags. The batmobile did not have a printed tag. Instead, once you complete the building steps during gameplay there is an option to save the model to the tag. So, while you can take the figures away and play elsewhere, I'd advise leaving the vehicles on the stands or it will get confusing fast. Try and have a tray or some other surface with edges so you can fiddle about building the vehicle /taking it apart/ building the new vehicle. It stops parts getting lost. Though, the tag and game won't know if you haven't rebuilt the physical model, so you could just keep your favourite one together Characters: The characters included in the game are not new to the world of LEGO Gaming. All three have appeared in other games. As I can't capture my own gaming, here are the character videos from the official LEGO Dimensions youtube channel. Gandalf Batman Wyldstyle Gameplay Comments On Characters. Just like every game, you switch characters to complete certain tasks or work as a team when playing two player mode. All three can drive the batmobile when it is used in the game. There are regular witty comments from the three as you play and sound effects when they interact with the game environment. Just as in other games, there are places and spaces you can only access with certain character abilities. Unlike the other LEGO games, this means actually purchasing some extras for real, or "Hiring" a hero using collected studs. The Hiring feature allows the player to borrow a character ability for thirty seconds, long enough to use it to unlock and access a hidden area or space. So you can complete it all without spending your money. A thoughtful inclusion. Final Comments LEGO Dimensions is fun to play. It took a little bit of getting used to with all the new things to take into account. However the new gameplay features meshed well with the old and familiar once you knew what was expected. There is a little more moving around than I'd like when videogaming but AFOLs and kids alike could easily corral a minion to assist. The storyline is entertaining and the humour that we have come to expect is present in the plot and the dialogue sound-bites while playing. It genuinely meshes the different universes well in the plot and gives gamers a chance to play LEGO versions of media franchises that would otherwise have not existed. The building is interactive with the game, which really is new and it will be interesting to see how it pans out in the long run. I wonder how many gamers will take to the idea. While yes, we are getting a lot more of the same when it comes to the game itself, that is always entertaining and the new dynamic just edges it over the more recent LEGO games simply for the novelty. Finally I'd like to thank EB and TLG for this fantastic opportunity. I love LEGO and I love both figure based gameplay and the LEGO Games, reviewing Dimensions has been a real treat.

REVIEW - 42001 - MINI OFF-ROADER INTRODUCTION Technic Mini models are sometimes regarded as models not worth buying. I don't agree with this opinion. Whether it's a special part or innovative building technique, almost every Mini model has something that makes the set worthwhile. This time I will be reviewing the 42001 Mini Off-Roader. This model is not a smaller version of an existing model, so there's no real comparison with a bigger brother, or sister if you will. Nor does the model resemble a real life brand or vehicle, so it is what it is, a Mini Off-Roader. Note: All images can be clicked for hi-res versions. SET INFORMATION Number: 42001 Title: Mini Off-Roader Theme: Technic Released: 2013 Part Count: 100 Box Weight: 165 gr Box Dimensions: 15,5 x 14,0 x 4,2 cm Set Price (MSRP): 9.99 EUR DE / 7.99 GBP / 12.99 USD Price per Part: DE 0.100 EUR / UK 0.080 GBP / USA 0.130 USD Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX The box measures 15,5 x 14,0 x 4,2 cm which is obviously not very big. The weight of the box is approximately 165 grams. FRONTSIDE The front of the box shows a though four wheel drive off-roader challenging a fierce rocky mountain trail...now does it?! What the box actually shows is Mini Off-Roader challenging a small foam rock formation, much like rocks used in Star Trek The Original Series, yet smaller The box also states that this model is for the age of 7 till 14. More importantly, the 2-models in-1 logo is clearly visible, which means this set can be used to build two different models. BACKSIDE The backside shows a picture of the alternate model and a smaller version of the original model. The conversion arrow and the 2-in-1 are printed to clarify that the main model can be converted into a secondary model. SIDES One of the sides shows the 2-in-1 logo and a picture of the main model. Another side shows a picture of one of the wheels in actual size and again, a picture of the main model. CONTENTS OF THE BOX The box contains: 2 Booklets 2 Bags 4 Tires BOOKLETS This set contains two booklets which is not very common for a set this size. Both models share the same chassis, which is why the build has been divided over two booklets, one for the chassis (8 pages with 10 steps) and one for the bodywork (34 pages with 23 steps for the main model and 20 steps for the alternate model). BAGS The box contains only 2 bags which is to be expected from a set consisting of 100 parts. One of the bags is filled with liftarms, panels, rims and two elastic bands. The other bags contains all the other parts, like pins, axles, connectors, etc. Opening the bags results in the following collection of parts, with the exception of the tires. No abundant number parts that will add real value to your collection. Nevertheless, there are some interesting orange parts and elastic bands. TIRES The tires are provided seperately (i.e. not contained in the bags). From the picture you can see that these tires have a front and a back side, so you should pay attention when fitting them to the rims, which have two different sides as well. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This section describes the unique and/or highlighted parts. VERY SMALL SMOOTH TECHNIC PANEL (#21 AND #22) These two small Technic were new at the time of release and this set was only one of two sets containing them in orange. The other set is the 42007 - Moto Cross Bike. At the moment of writing there's a third set containing these parts, the Black Champion Racer. Side A Side B SMALL RUBBER BAND I was under the impression that these White Rubber Bands weren't that common, but it seems that these bands are as common as dirt. But hey, you can't have enough rubber bands! THIN LIFTARM 1x5 WITH AXLE HOLES Like the panels, these Liftarms were also new at the time of release. Looking at the the frequent usage in other sets, this part has proven to be a most useful mammal. THIN LIFTARM 1x3 Not a very rare piece per se, but if you are not into Bionicle, this liftarm part can be hard to find. Your other option would be to buy the 9390 - Mini Tow Truck, or the 8305 - Dual Bikes from a while ago (2000). LONG PIN WITH CENTER PIN HOLE This relatively new kid on the block is currently used in many Technic and non-Technic sets and has well proven it's worth. AXLE PIN CONNECTOR HUB WITH 2 AXLES Like the previous part this newish part is also quite helpful in certain situations. PART LIST Here's the complete list for all 100 parts. BUILDING EXPERIENCE The build starts with the chassis of the Off-Roader. After connecting some liftarms two elastic bands, one on each side, are attached to the towball pins. This is all there is to the suspension, plain and simple. The two elastic bands contract the L-shaped liftarms, which results in the long ends swiveling downwards. The video below demonstrates the suspension. The simplicity doesn't do it justice, because it works like a charm. The suspension is very smooth with the right amount of stretch and resistance. This great working suspension adds a lot of value to this set. To quote John Hurt in the movie Contact: "Why build one when you can have two at twice the price?". I have purchased two sets so we can simultaneously see both models and make a proper comparison. Below you can see two identical chassis which will be used for both versions of the build. At this stage we have arrived at the end of the first booklet, which only took about ten minutes. Not surprising, since the first booklet only has 10 building steps. Progressing to the second booklet, you need to choose between building the main and alternative model. That's a choice I don't need to make for this review, so let's start with the main model. MAIN MODEL When building the bodywork there's a rather peculiar building technique, which you wouldn't expect in an official LEGO set. The Axle and Pin Connector Hub with 2 Axles only protrudes halfway into the Double Bent Liftarm. The Thin 1x4 Liftarm which is added in one of the following steps makes sure the hubs stay perfectly in place, but I was still surprised to see this technique. The finished bodywork for the main model looks like....uhh...well.....I don't know exactly. It doesn't bear any resemblance to a real life model, which makes it hard to judge. One thing's for sure; it's not the best looking Technic Mini Model. The bodywork can be attached to the chassis by using a 7L axle and two bushes, one on each side of the chassis. ALTERNATE MODEL Unfortunately the alternate model doesn't look much better than the main model. It's even a stud less wide, while you would like to see slightly more body, matching the size of the tires and chassis. Attached to the chassis the body is even more out of proportion. It's not really ugly and the color scheme is great (obviously this goes for the main model as well), but the body simply doesn't match the chassis. I can only imagine that this model is supposed to have a chibi look, much like the Microfighter Star Wars models. COMPARISON The following section shows a selection of images from different angles to compare the main and secondary model. The main model has a bit more volume, while the alternate model has a more sporty look. FRONT VIEW The main model has headlights which are attached at a higher point, while the alternate model has headlights which are placed more closely next to each other. REAR VIEW A slightly different setup in both models, where the main model again has higher placed rear lights. SIDE VIEW The side view shows that the panels are used differently in both models. The main models uses them as doors, while the alternate model uses them as engine cover (bonnet). TOP VIEW The top view reveals that the main model might have room for a minifig PARTS LEFT The left image shows the parts which are left after building the main model, while the second image shows the parts left after building the alternate model. As you can see, the main model uses slightly more parts than the alternate model. FEATURES Besides the awesome suspension, which we already have discussed, there aren't a lot of features in this set. There's actually a single feature, which is only present in the main model....opening doors! Wow, impressive! Well, maybe we can't expect too much functionality in such a small model. SUMMARY The Off-Roader is a fun model which is fairly easy to build. The suspension is simple, yet very effective. The model could do better in the design department, but the suspension offers great playability and that is what this set is all about. The orange parts are not very common so they are an added bonus. All things considered this set is definitely worth the few bucks you need to spend on it. PROS Great suspension Fun to play with Some (semi) rare orange parts Great color scheme CONS No resemblence to an actual off-roader Not the best looking model SCORE Below are my scores based on different categories. 6 DESIGN Not the best looking Technic model. 7 BUILDING EXPERIENCE The suspension makes it fun to build. 7 FEATURES The suspension makes up for the lack of functionality. 8 PLAYABILITY The model has Car-Swooshability. 7 PARTS Some interesting orange parts. 8 VALUE FOR MONEY Great present for the younger builders. 7,1 ELASTIC Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading and please rate this set at the top of this topic!

REVIEW - 42038 - ARCTIC TRUCK INTRODUCTION Arctic vehicles aren't new to LEGO. Back in 2000 the Town theme already had several small orange arctic vehicles. In 2014 TLG again released a number of Arctic sets in the City theme (formerly known as Town). Some of these sets are actually pretty big, containing over 700 parts. Looking back in history it seems that Arctic sets may have found their origin in the Technic theme. Although these sets were white instead of orange, they are unmistakenly Arctic. The 1986 Technic Arctic Sets contained the infamous Technic Figures. Unfortunately the 2015 Arctic Truck doesn't contain any Technic Figures, but nonetheless it's great to see a new Arctic vehicle in the Technic line, not counting several snow scooters. Let's see if the new Arctic Truck lives up to the expectations. Note: All images can be clicked for hi-res versions. SET INFORMATION Number: 42038 Title: Arctic Truck Theme: Technic Released: 2015 Part Count: 1219 Box Weight: 2110 gr Box Dimensions: 47,8 cm x 28,0 cm x 7,2 cm Set Price (MSRP): € 79,99 / US$ 84.99 / £ 59.99 Price per Part: € 0,088 / US$ 0.093 / £ 0.066 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX The box measures 47,8 cm x 28,0 cm x 7,2 cm and weighs around 1385 grams. The box actually feels pretty heavy which means it's filled properly. This seems to be a trend in the Technic theme. Slightly smaller boxes can save shelf space for retailers. THE FRONT The front of the box shows the main model and in the lower right corner there's a image with the dimension of the model. It's 40cm long and 18cm wide. THE BACK The upper part of the back of the box shows the functions of the main model. The lower left section shows the B-model, which looks very promising (more on that later). The lower right section shows the motorization options for the main model. The crane (partially) and the bed can be motorized. Besides motorization some LEDs can be added as headlights. THE SIDE On of the sides shows one of the newer smaller style panels. This is the first time it appears in orange. When you take a look at the sticker you can see that it's not symmetrical. Not sure why TLG "cut of" one of the sides of the stickers, since the position of the panel is very suitable for a continuous sticker. CONTENT OF THE BOX The box is pretty densely packed, which is better than semi-filled boxes. It feels like you actually bought something which matches the box size. The box contains: 2 Booklets 1 Sticker Sheet 8 Bags BOOKLETS & STICKER SHEET Unfortunately the instructions and sticker sheet haven't been packed with cardboard protection, which results in a curved sticker sheet and slightly bent instructions. In my case this wasn't so bad. At least no real damage. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This set proves to be a great parts pack, especially when you might have missed some of the 2014 sets. BLACK LINK TREADS Usually the Link Treads come in Dark Blue Grey, but this sets includes 96 Black treads, which is great if you'd like to replace the DBG ones in your MOCs, or other official sets. UNDERCARRIAGE AND SUSPENSION Several parts are included to build the undercarriage driving the treads. Four Large Tread Sprockets and eight Small Tread Sprockets, which are used as return sprockets. Also included are four Steering Portal Hubs and four Steering Portal Axles for driving and steering the vehicle. Several frames, including two C-shaped Pivot Frames and two Steering Ball Joints to create an undercarriage much like the 4x4 Crawler. The set even includes two H-shaped Frames (a.k.a. Dog Bone Frames). NEW CHANGEOVER CATCH PARTS This year (2015) three new parts have been introduced to improve the changeover catch. More on these parts later. NEW PIN CONNECTOR Another new part for this year (2015) is the "1L Round Pin Connector", which looks like a pin connector, but acts more like a bush. NEW PINS Furthermore this sets includes quite a large number of three (relatively) new parts. 17 x Pin with Pin Hole, 14 x 3L Pin with 1L Axle and 11 x 3L Pin with 2L Axle, which have been introduced this year (2015). When the new 3L Pin with 1L Axle was introduced in 2014 it was only a matter of time before the new 3L Pin with 2L Axle would appear. Both new Pins are a great addition to the parts portfolio. PANELS Last but not least this sets contains a fair number of orange panels, including the 3x11 Panel in Orange, which is the first time we've seen this part. PART LIST Below is the entire part list for the 913 parts. As usual this part list can be found at the end of the second booklet. THE BUILD The build immediately starts with some of the new parts, used to build the compact gearbox in the center of the model. Notice the two 20 Tooth Bevel Gears. One would have been enough to drive the 12 Tooth Bevel Gear, so the second seems to be useless. TLG probably used it in the A-model, because they needed it in the B-model, which you can see later. The front and rear suspension are almost identical. The front side also has the 13L Gear Rack, used for steering. The picture below shows the steering rack on the front suspension in more detail. At this point you have more or less finished the chassis. The gearbox is in place and the majority of the functions has internally been connected to the right gears. The small turntable shows where the crane will be attached later on. At the end of the first booklet, some of the bodywork has been attached to the chassis. The orange-black color scheme never fails to please me. Throw in some cool stickers for the extra effect and we have a winner. If you decide to motorize the model, using PF, the top of the cabin can be lifted to accomodate the battery box. The chassis uses lots of orange (and some black) panels to give the model it's distinctive look. The protective black bumber/railing is a nice addition which adds something to the exterior. The dumping bed at the rear can tilt to empty it's load. It's operated by a Mini LA. The Treads, which look very cool in Black, are driven by a Large Tread Sprocket and returned by two Small Tread Sprockets. The front and rear sections are identical. Building the undercarriages feels a bit repetitive, which is a problem for most tracked vehicles. FINISHED MODEL Adding the crane to the model finishes the build. Your model should look something like this. When you take a close look at the finished model, you realize this is something else. It's trully a unique vehicle. The color scheme is brilliant and the fact that it's an Arctic Truck is really neat. It's a welcome change for the Technic line to see a vehicle like this. This picture emphasizes that's it's a very cool vehicle. Imagine this beast plowing through the snow! As far as I know it's not based on a real life vehicle. If's probably a combination of several vehicles and some imagination. I can be totally wrong though. The rear of the vehicle shows the crane and drum, placed on the tipper bed. From this angle you can see some of the internals of the model, the gearbox behind the cabin for example. The crane can be partially motorized (rotation and base), while the boom is operated manually. What I like a lot is the protective railing around the vehicle. LEFT OVER PARTS Some leftover parts, nothing noteworthy. FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS This set has several functions/features: Steering Driving Suspension Crane Tipping bed STEERING As you can see in the image below the steering mechanism has quite a bit of negative caster (please correct me if I'm wrong), which causes the treads to rotate a bit upward/downward instead of only to the left and right. DRIVING You mention driving as a feature?! Yes I do and let me explain why. Normally I would ommit this as a feature and take driving for granted. However, driving this vehicle (on a flat surface) causes it to simply slide over the surface. For other arctic vehicles this would be a plus, but with a tracked vehicle it limits playability. This is one of the main drawbacks of these tread, they simple don't work properly on smooth surfaces. SUSPENSION The suspension is working properly. You do need to apply some pressure, but all things considered it's not too bad. CRANE The crane has four degrees of freedom: Base rotation Lower boom Upper boom Hook It does what it's supposed to do. Base rotation and lower boom can be motorized and switched using the gearbox, while the upper boom and hook are operated manually. TIPPING BED The tipping is operated via a Mini LA. CONCLUSION While the set does offer various functions and features, driving and steering is a serious issue. Therefor this set is more likely to be showcased than to be played with. B-MODEL Instructions for the B-model are of high quality. Looking at the image below, you will see what I mean. Here's the finished B-model, a tracked Jeep with a communcations device. This alternate model looks so good, it could easily have made it as a main model. One thing that does pop in mind; how would this look with tires?! More on that later. When you are in the artcic region it's imperative to have proper communication channels. Since there's no internet backbone, you will need a big antenna of some sort. This B-model actually features a small trailer wagon with a transmitter/receiver. Here's more detailed image of the B-model, without trailer wagon. I would buy this model in a heartbeat if it were a main model. Simply gorgeous. The side view doesn't give away that this in alternate model. The stickers also work really well in this model. And again, nothing to complain here. The model even has a small crane at the rear, operated by the Mini LA. Here you can see the arctic fleet, comprised of both the A-model and B-model. I bet these two can get some work done!! A bit of a messy picture, but this should give you an impression of the size of both models. LEFTOVER PARTS Not too many parts left, which is obviously a good thing. ALTERNATE MODEL WITH TUMBLER TIRES Just like me, you probably have been wondering how this model would look like with (Tumbler) tires. Well, here it is. As I imagined it does look great. Admittedly, these are not the type of tires we ought to use, but to be honest; I don't really care. Again, the negative caster results in quirky steering. The tires are a bit too big, so they hit the chassis when you compress the suspension. While this has absolutely nothing to do with an arctic vehicle, I really love this picture. SUMMARY We're almost at the end of my review, so what do I think of this set. Let's start with getting the Elephant out of the room; this set lacks proper driving and steering. Does that make it a bad set?! Definitely not! It's a great set, but it lacks some playability when it comes to moving the vehicle. The crane and tipper bed do work properly, so there's still some playability left. Does this set look cool? Definitely! I think it's one of the coolest (no pun intended) and most original models of recent years. The orange and black color scheme works great and the stickers are well designed. The B-model is of very high quality and some might even prefer it over the A-model. And if you are not interested in either of these models, this set provides you with a variety of great parts! All in all I think this is a great set! Maybe not to play with, but it scores high on all other criteria. PROS Original model Great color scheme Lots of interesting parts Great B-model CONS Steering and driving don't work too well Repetitive build of undercarriages (minor con) SCORE Below are my scores based on different categories. 8 DESIGN Original and good looking model. 7 BUILDING EXPERIENCE Fun to build, albeit a bit repetitive. 8 FEATURES Packs quite a few features. 7 PLAYABILITY Some features work, some don't. 9 PARTS Comes with interesting parts. 9 VALUE FOR MONEY Two great model in a single set. 8 COOL! As a bonus, here's picture of the main model with Tumbler Tires. Why? Because we can!

REVIEW - 42052 - HEAVY LIFT HELICOPTER INTRODUCTION Helicopters, planes...basically everything airborne is +1 for me. The 9396 - Helicopter is one of my favorite models. I own three copies, which says it all. the news about a new helicopter made me very excited. The news about twin rotors made me even more excited. Although I must admit I was hoping for a Chinook style tandem rotor, instead of a double rotor where one is positioned on top of the other. This set does come with a Chinook style B-model, so maybe that will be worth building. One thing I immediately like better than the 9396 is the color scheme. I love the bright orange-white combination. This set seems to have a huge number of panels, which is not to everyone's liking. Let's find out what's going on underneath that smooth surface! Note: All images can be clicked for hi-res versions. SET INFORMATION Number: 42052 Title: Heavy Lift Helicopter Theme: Technic Released: 2016 Part Count: 1042 Box Weight: 1831 gr Box Dimensions: 57,0 cm x 37,3 cm x 8,0 cm Set Price (MSRP): € 119,99 Price per Part: € 0,115 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX The box is fairly big, which indicates a pretty big model. Unfortunately the box was damaged. Some cracks and dents, but luckily it wasn't ripped apart, like my Mercedes box. I'm not sure if TLG sends out the sets the same way when they sell via S&H, because I would be slightly disappointed to receive my sets like this. Update: I've seen more complaints about wrecked and/or damaged boxes, so there's room for improvement in the shipping department. The front of the box shows the helicopter lifting it's load. The model is 60 cm long and 53 cm wide. It also shows the contra-rotating rotors. As you can see an M-motor and battery box are included, so there are some powered functions. BACK The back of the box shows which functions are powered. We will deal with the functions later. It also shows the Chinook style B-model, which has motorised functions too. Looking at the front of the B-model I am not very tempted to build it. It looks like a flying guinea-pig CONTENT OF THE BOX The box contains: Sealed instruction booklet with stickers 6 Helicopter Blades 1 Sealed M-Motor 1 Battery Box 2 Soft Axles 10 Unnumbered Bags SEALED INSTRUCTIONS WITH STICKERS The stickers are sealed with the instruction booklet, like we are getting used to with bigger sets. I've said it before, but TLG deserves a big thumbs-up for this! The sticker sheet is still in perfect shape! HELICOPTER BLADES This set contains six of the Large Technic Rotor Blades, first released in the 9396 - Helicopter in 2012. PF BATTERY BOX AND M-MOTOR SOFT AXLES Two Soft Axles, or Flex Axles, are delivered unbagged. 19L? Who knows! More on these later BAGS Ten bags containing the rest of the, mostly white, parts. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This chapter describes new and interesting parts. Not sure if it's a trend, but like the 24 Hours Race Car this set also has an abundance of panels. I've counted 51 of 'em (not counting the engine covers). It does have two new panels, introduced in most of the 1H 2016 sets. As from today this set officially contains the most Technic Panels. One more than the 42025 - Cargo Plane. 42052 - 51 panels 42025 - 50 panels 42039 - 47 panels BLUE 5x3 BENT PANELS These new Bent Panels seem to be very suited to make fenders/wheel arches and seats. AXLE AND PIN HOLE The axle counterpart of the Pin and Pin Hole. YELLOW 5L AXLE From what I can tell at the moment, the yellow 6L Axle is unique to this set. I made a mistake here. It's actually a yellow 5L axle instead of 6L. RED 6L AXLE Like the yellow 6L axle, the red 5L Axle seems to be unique to this set. This will obviously change over the course of time, but for now it's the only set containing them. I made a mistake here. It's actually a red 6L axle instead of 5L. 19L SOFT AXLES Finally, the black 19L Soft Axles! A lot of people will be glad to see these being used again. Only released in the 8450 - The Mission in 1999, this part has become very rare. DRUM TIPPER Of course these are no Cement Mixer Drum Tippers (60018 - Cement Mixer, 7990 - Cement Mixer). These are Helicopter Engine Covers, and quite good looking ones. They seem to be more versatile then you'd imagine, since they already appeared in 4 other sets. GREEN 3x11 PANEL Two green 3x11 Panels, not to be confused with bright green, used in the 42039. This is the same green as the 42008 - Service Truck from 2013. ORANGE PANELS A collection of 13 orange panels. WHITE PANELS A collection of 34 white panels. WHITE 5x11 TAPERED PANEL PLATE Introduced last year in the Fire Plane, this is a relatively new panel. 2x4 PERPENDICULAR BENT PIN CONNECTOR This 2x4 Perpendicular Bent Pin Connector was introduced in 2013 and it's one of those parts flying under the radar. You won't be needing this every day, but who knows when it might come in handy. PART LIST The set consists of 1042, shown below. THE BUILD Upon opening the booklet with building instructions, I noticed the color of the pages has slightly changed. The pages are lighter blue than we're used to. Probably to increase the contrast and make the difference between the darker colors better visible. This new color is used in every booklet of the new sets. The build setup is a bit different than we're used to. Usually you start by building one side, followed by adding things inside and finished by closing up the model. This time you start by building the fuselage, after which you continue with the gear box and rotors. ROTORS The image below shows the mechanism for the contra-rotating rotors. Actually I made a mistake here. I switched the two turntables. Luckily it didn't take me long to find out. At the top you can see an Axle Connector with Axle Hole which is connected to an axle going through the turntables. This axle is only connected to one of the turntables (obviously). The first set of rotors is connected to one of the turntables, while the other is connected to the axle going through the turntable. This is demonstrated in the video below. GEARBOX Here you can see the setup of the gearbox. A basic setup with a single layer of gears (more or less). You can see the 3L Driving Ring on both sides of the model, used to switch between the different functions. CARGO BAY DOORS I found the mechanism to open the bottom cargo bay doors to be very intriguing. Here you can see three stages of moving the H-Frame down. The video below demonstrates the gearbox and the mechanism for the cargo bay doors. This video shows the gearbox mounted on the fuselage, and the contra-rotating rotors. CARGO CONTAINER The cargo container wraps up the build. FINISHED MODEL Leaving the other building steps for you to discover, we skip right to the finished model. There's always a lot of debate about panels and closing a Technic model with them. I personally love a finished look with panels. Looking at the image below, I can only compliment the designer with his accomplishment. The helicopter looks fantastic! The design itself is fantastic and the color scheme is really spot on. This helicopter looks even better than the 9396 - Helicopter, which I will compare later in this review. The Drum Tipper parts used as engine covers is very well done. You would almost think they are designed to be used in this helicopter. SIDE REAR VIEW In this picture you can clearly see the rear cargo bay door/ramp and the landing gear. The tail rudders are operated manually, which is slightly disappointing. The solution in the 42025 - Cargo Plane was much better. The landing gear is pretty clever though. Very simple, but it works like a charm, using nothing more than gravity. SIDE VIEW The side view shows how well the helicopter has been designed. The panels align very well and the model is almost entirely closed. This is a matter of personal preference, but I absolutely love it. BOTTOM VIEW Yup, there it is...the battery box. You can also see the mechanism to operate the tail wing. I find this to be a weak spot of the model. The lever is positioned very close to the wing itself, which feels a bit useless. It would have been great to operate the wing with the orange Bionicle Tooth located near the tail gate. You can clearly see which panels are used for cargo bay doors. Two 3x11 panels are used as bottom cargo bay doors, and a 5x11 is used as the back cargo bay door (ramp). Both are operated by the Power Functions motor (see features and functions). FRONT VIEW REAR VIEW ADDITIONAL IMAGES Here are two additional images from different angles. PARTS LEFT It's interesting too see TLG provided an extra 19L Soft Axle. It appears to be used in the B-model, but it somehow feels like an added bonus, since this part is wanted by a lot of builders. The 6L"]http://alpha.brickli..."color":11}"]6L Rigid Hose[/url], which is also used in the B-model, is extra too. Since the instruction booklet tells us we are only supposed to get a single 19L Soft Axle, I am not sure whether it's used in the B-model (it looks that way though). FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS This set has the following features: Contra-rotating rotors (Power Functions) Opening bottom cargo bay doors (Power Functions) Opening rear cargo bay door/ramp (Power Functions) Operating the winch Operating tail wing (Manual) Operating tail rudders (Manual) Landing gear Castering nose wheel The following video demonstrated all of the functions/features. I have added an IR receiver and I am using a PF remote to operate the powered functions. As you can see all the functions work very smooth. The powered functions work pretty fast, so there's no waiting for ages before the cargo doors open up. The winch is the slowest of them all, but that makes sense. As you could read in the review, I don't really like the manual tail wind and rudder functions. I know a designer needs to make concessions, but wasn't it possible to operate the tail wing with the orange bionicle tooth. The castering nose wheel does work properly, and so does the landing gear. Both very simple, but they do their job. SUMMARY Like I said at the beginning of my review, I am fan of flying machines. And to be honest, I am an even bigger fan of helicopters than planes or jets. This might influence my judgement. I am also a big fan of white, orange and grey, so that's another plus. And I happen to like models finished with panels. Do you see where this is going?! I absolutely love this model. The 9396 - Helicopter was one of my favorite models, but I like this one even better. The closed design is something I like a lot, as long as the model is packing some functions too. Panels alone don't cut it. Well, this set has some cool features under those panels. The mechanism for the contra-rotating rotors is pretty nifty. So are the bottom cargo bay doors. The things I like the least is are the tail wing and tail rudders. The tail wing is operated manually, but it's a simple lever positioned very closely to the actual wing. And the rudders are operated by simply moving the rudders themselves. As with the Mercedes I am not a big fan of operating a model by using the switch on the battery box. It confuses me, and you can't easily reach it. I understand TLG can't throw in a remote and IR receiver each time they supply a PF motor, but it's probably one of the modifications most AFOLs will immediately apply. That being said, I absolutely recommend getting this fantastic model! SCORE Okay, so how do I grade this set? 9 DESIGN Absolutely magnificent. 8 BUILDING EXPERIENCE Great build with some clever techniques. 8 FEATURES Great functions, but rudder and tail controls need improvement. 8 PLAYABILITY Lots of things to operate, but would work better with a remote control. 9 PARTS Contains lots of new parts and loads of white panels. 9 VALUE FOR MONEY Worth every penny. Will buy another one. 8,5 ABSOLUTE EYECATCHER BONUS COMPARISON I will end this review with a comparison between the "new" and "old" helicopter. As you can see my 9396 has a yellow and black color scheme, instead of the original yellow and red, but it will give you a clear picture on how these two compare. More pictures can be found on my Flickr page. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.

REVIEW - 42050 - DRAG RACER INTRODUCTION And then there's this...arguably the most controversial set of 2016. Upon seeing the first pictures, excitement about a Drag Racer quickly got replaced with a "what's this supposed to be" feeling. Some people still like it, some think it's the most ugly set in the world. Others claim it's what's called a Funny Car and it's supposed to look ugly. I can recommend reading the Wiki article on Funny Cars. This set does contain two of the "Tumbler Tires", which does make it interesting for some people. Is it interesting enough to buy two sets to acquire four tires. That will depend on the price and what the set has to offer besides the tires. I'm glad I got a chance to review this set, because the first glimpse didn't make me very enthusiastic. Since I already have four of the tumbler tires, that would not be a reason for me to buy it. The best thing to do is to switch to neutral and start exploring what this set has to offer. Note: All images can be clicked for hi-res versions. SET INFORMATION Number: 42050 Title: Drag Racer Theme: Technic Released: 2016 Part Count: 647 Box Weight: 1089 gr Box Dimensions: 37,9 cm x 25,8 cm x 9,2 cm Set Price (MSRP): € 59,99 Price per Part: € 0,093 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX The box shows the Drag Racer in the middle of a wheelie. The wheelie functionality has caused quite some confusion and discussion. Is this car able to do a wheelie?! Without any assisting contraptions?! The top right shows a bar behind the car, seemingly to limit the cars vertical movement. BACKSIDE The backside of the box confirms the car's ability to do a wheelie. However, it seems there's a contraption in the bottom of the chassis helping the car lift in the air. That does feel like cheating. The set can be motorised using PF elements. The battery box attached to the end of the car could act as a counter weight, eliminating the need for the contraption in the bottom of the chassis. Looking at the picture on the box, it looks like the battery box alone is not enough. More on that later. The left lower corner of the backside shows the B-model, an actual Dragster, called Supercharged Dragster. Many have claimed the B-model looks better than the A-model. CONTENT OF THE BOX The box contains: 1 Instruction Booklet 1 Sticker Sheet 4 Wheels 5 Bags INSTRUCTION BOOKLET The instruction booklet for the main model. No booklet for the alternate model. STICKER SHEET Looking at this sticker sheet, I wonder why TLG doesn't insert the sticker sheet in the booklet. That would prevent damage and rolling up. TIRES Two special tires, which we will discuss shortly. BAGS A total of five bags containing the rest of the parts. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This section describes the new and/or interesting parts. BLUE 5x3 BENT PANEL These new Bent Panels seem to be very suited to make fenders/wheel arches and seats. 3L AXLE WITH STOP We started with a 8L Axle with Stop in 2006, followed by the 4L Axle with Stop in 2010. The 4L seems to be around for ages, but it was introduced in 2010, which was surprising to find out. In 2014 TLG released the 5L Axle with Stop and this we get a new 3L Axle with Stop. 7L AXLE IN YELLOW The 7L Axle has never been released in yellow before. This year TLG surprised us with releasing axles in different colors, like yellow, red and orange. This set only contains a yellow 7L Axle, but you can checkout my other reviews to see which other axles have been (re)released. This 7L Axle is also used in the Police Interceptor. 6L AXLE IN RED While the Red 6L Axle isn't new, it's only used in a couple of sets before. BLACK 7L SOFT AXLES For the layman this seems a common part, but the 7L Soft Axle actually has never been released in black before. Combined with the re-release of the 19L Soft Axle in black, this will open up lots of possibilities. For those of you thinking you've read this text before; you are right, the new Display Team Jet contains these new 7L Soft Axles too. BLACK 16L SOFT AXLE At first I thought this was a new 15L Soft Axle, but upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a 16L Flex Axle. It isn't a very common part though, since it only appeared in the 42026 - Black Champion Racer from 2014. 1x9 BENT LINK Not a very rare part, but you don't see the 1x9 BENT LINK every day. MEDIUM AZURE BLUE PANELS AND Since I haven't built any of the sets containing Medium Blue, it took me some time to notice that this is a totally different color. I am not a big fan of Medium Blue, since it looks dull. Medium Azure on the other hand looks fantastic. It's very vibrant. Hopefully TLG will continue using this Blue in the years to come. BLACK PANELS A modest collection of Black panels. TUMBLER TIRES/WHEELS Tires known as Tumber Tires (or Wheels), since they appeared in the 76023 - TheTumbler for the first time. The official (Bricklink) name is Tire 81.6 x 44 R, but that doesn't sound nearly as sexy. When the Tumber was released in 2014 all Technic fans were waiting for an official LEGO Technic set utilizing these wheels. To everyone's surprise, they weren't used in 2015. Luckily they do make their appearance in Technic in 2016. Upon seeing the tires, people immediately suggested a Dragster/Drag Racer, and here it is. Currently the Tires are going for at least 10 euros on Bricklink, so this already contains 20 euros worth of parts. Although I do suspect the prices will go down after the release of this model. The next video shows a short demonstration of how the Tumbler Tires behave. As you can see in the video, they are prone to slipping. But that only happens when you apply a lot of pressure. The average builder won't notice this behavior. PART LIST This set contains 647 parts, which are shown below. THE BUILD Building the Drag Racer is done in roughly two stages, first you build the chassis, then the bodywork. After the body you will add the spoiler to the chassis, but I'd like to think of two stages in the build. CHASSIS Building the chassis isn't too complicated. No difficult gearboxes or complex structures. One thing that's worth mentioning is that the V8 is chain driven. That's pretty cool! The end result looks okay. The great thing about the separation of bodywork and chassis, is that you can use this chassis to build your own Funny Car bodywork. BODYWORK This is where the controversy originates. Admittedly, the bodywork itself (not connected to the chassis) doesn't look too bad. However, it feels rushed and unfinished, especially the front. For me, this would be a perfect preliminary design, which needs some work to finalize the design. We will attach the bodywork to the chassis in a bit. That's when the peculiar front design really shows. The backside of the bodywork isn't too bad. It's simple, but it works. No complaints here. FINISHED MODEL I hereby present to you, the Drag Racer! The image below clearly shows why I have a problem with the front design. The front wheel arch is way too square. And I am not particularly fond of the big exhaust pipe and the square hole in the bodywork to make it fit. I would have preferred an exhaust design more like the Getaway Racer, possibly with double pipes on each side. The main problem seems to be the 11x3 Curved Panel which is very dominant. Looking at the other supplied parts in Medium Azure, I wonder whether using the Small Panels (#21, #22) could lead to a better design. On a more positive note; I really do like Medium Azure! Combined with Black it results in a great color scheme. Looking at the stickers, Purple can be thrown in the mix as well. Using the lever on the other side (see video), opens up (or lifts) the bodywork. This is necessary to turn the knob to lift the chassis for the wheelie (see next picture). So this is the Wheelie mode that generated a lot of discussion. Although this was expected by most members, we secretly hoped there would be a more exotic mechanism for the wheelie. BACKSIDE I don't have any real issue with the backside of the car. It's a collection of connected liftarms, but it fits the model. BOTTOM As you can see there's no differential between the rear wheels. I'll let you figure out how the drivetrain is connected to the V8 FRONT AND BACK Two additional images, one of the front and one of the back of the car. VIDEO The video below shows a short overview of the model. FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS This model has the following features: Steering via Hand of God Lifting the bodywork Switching to wheelie mode Chain driven fake engine VIDEO OF THE CHASSIS FUNCTIONS The video below demonstrates the functions of the chassis. VIDEO OF THE BODYWORK The following video shows the lifting of the bodywork. ADDING POWER FUNCTIONS This page from the instruction booklet shows what you can do by adding Power Functions. The picture below shows the parts needed to add Power Functions to the model. VIDEO SHOWING POWER FUNCTIONS The following video demonstrates how to add Power Functions to the model, and it shows the performance when using Power Functions. I have added an additional PF Receiver to facilitate the demonstration. As you can see in the video, adding Power Functions doesn't transform this model into a Drag Racing monster. Performance with the M-motor isn't what you want it to be. Replacing the M-motor with an L-motor will obviously help, but it definitely won't be enough to make the wheelie by itself. SUMMARY Do you know that feeling that you see a car for the first time and think "how on earth did that design make it to production?!" and after a while you get used to it and the feeling somehow turns to appreciation. That's more or less what happened to me when I was writing the review. Don't get me wrong; I am still surprised that TLG failed to do better than this. Of all the models I have reviewed, this is my least favorite when it comest to the design. I am a big fan of panels, but I think the designer could have done a better job designing the front of the car. That being said, I must admit that this set started to grow on me during the build and especially during the write up of the review. It does have something going on. The Medium Azure and Black color scheme looks great and the introduction of Medium Azure in the Technic line is definitely a winner for me. Hopefully there will be more to come, parts that is. It contains two of the Tumbler Tires, which are pretty expensive by itself, starting at 10 euros on Bricklink. Although this set does have some features, I am a bit disappointed that when you use PF, the car can't do a wheelie by itself. It know the reason behind this is physically valid, but it would have made this model a lot cooler than it currently is. If you find this set for a discounted price, it might be worth picking up two copies. The suggested price of 60 Euro does seem a bit steep when you are only interested in the Tumbler Tires. All in all I started to like the Drag Racer more than I imagined before building it. SCORE Okay, so how do I grade this set? 6 DESIGN Front feels unfinished and rushed. 7 BUILDING EXPERIENCE Straightforward build. 7 FEATURES Nice wheelie function, but it does feel like cheating. 7 PLAYABILITY Kids might enjoy the wheelie function. Power Functions don't add much. 7 PARTS Two Tumbler Tires and some new pieces. Not too bad. 7 VALUE FOR MONEY Good value if you are looking for Tumbler Tires. 6,8 NEEDS SOME WORK More image can be found on my Flickr page. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

REVIEW - 42048 - RACE KART INTRODUCTION If you are old, like me, there's a pretty good chance the 854 Go-Kart (or 948 Go-Kart for the US) was the first Technic set in your collection. I remember my dad had to help me building this set. Actually, I think he did most of the building and I watched in awe. If you are a dad and have a son (or daughter) this might very well be the set to introduce your kid to LEGO Technic. Is it interesting for us AFOLs too? Let's find out. 854/948 GO-KART FROM 1978 Here you can see a picture of the kart I am referring to. One of the first LEGO Technic sets, although it wasn't called Technical LEGO back in the days. Wikipedia: The concept was introduced as the Expert Builder series and originally Technical Sets in 1977,[1] and was renamed Technic in 1984.. Note: All images can be clicked for hi-res versions. SET INFORMATION Number: 42048 Title: Race Kart Theme: Technic Released: 2016 Part Count: 345 Box Weight: 558 gr Box Dimensions: 15,4 cm x 13,8 cm x 5,9 cm Set Price (MSRP): € 26,99 Price per Part: € 0,078 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX The box shows the Race Kart on the starting grid and in the lower right corner you see the piston moving. There's also an arrow near the lever, going two ways, so there's probably a gear box of some sorts. BACKSIDE The backside shows the alternate model and a reference to the digital building instructions apps. The instructions weren't available in the app when I built the model, so I can't tell whether they are any good. They are probably up to par with the other instructions in the app, which are quite good. CONTENT OF THE BOX The box contains: 2 Instruction Booklets (A- and B-model) 1 Sticker Sheet 5 Bags INSTRUCTION BOOKLET A-MODEL The instruction booklet for the main model. INSTRUCTION BOOKLET B-MODEL Noteworthy is the inclusion of an additional booklet for the B-model. This is common in smaller sets, but I didn't expect it in a set this size. STICKER SHEET One look at the sticker sheets and it's obvious where these stickers need to be applied. The small round sticker is for the tank cap. The purple and orange color scheme is clearly present in the sticker sheet as well. BAGS Five bags containing all the parts for the model. No unbagged parts in this set. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This section describes the new or highlighted parts. YELLOW 5L AXLE The 5L Axle has never been released in yellow. As far as I can tell, this is the only 1H 2016 set with a yellow 5L axle. RED 4L AXLE The Axle 4L in Red hasn't been released since 2005. It has only been released in 4 sets in red, so it's not a very common part. SILVER 3L TECHNIC LIFTARM The 3L Technic Lifarm has only been released in Silver in the 10242 - MINI Cooper. DARK BLUISH GREY 3x11 TECHNIC PANEL PLATE Also unique to this set is the 3x11 Panel Plate in Dark Bluish Grey. 3x13 CURVED PANEL The 3x13 Curved Panel, which was introduced in Bright Green in last year's 24 Hours Race Car, is being used in Purple. WHEELS AND TIRES The model uses 37 x 22 ZR Tires and 30.4mm D. x 20mm Wheels. Both are very common, but I mention them for easy reference. PART LIST The Race Kart consists of 345 parts. Here's the complete part list. THE BUILD The build is pretty straightforward, although the rear side with gearbox can be a bit tricky for the younger builders. The picture below shows the model halfway of the build. You can see the steering mechanism and lever for switching gears. The finished model looks quite good. The purple orange scheme makes the model standout. I like it a lot. Now that TLG introduced Purple panels, I hope that TLG will release more parts in Purple. Purple will also work very well with White. Steering is actually done via the steering wheel, something most car models lack nowadays. Of course the steering is easily accessible which facilitates the steering. The turning radius is quite big, which slightly reduces playability. This is clearly visible in the second video. The rear of the vehicle looks great too. One can criticize that using a big panel lacks ingenuity, but I think the panel is perfect solution. Admittedly, I am a big fan of the 3x13 Curved Panel! Hopefully this panel will be introduced in White in the near future. The next picture shows the chassis of the vehicle. As you can see, the White Driving Ring Connector is used multiple times as a 3L connector, where you normally might use a 180 Degree Axle and Pin Connector Angled #2. This is something you will find in the other new sets as well. To be honest; I can't stop looking at the Kart! I also imagine a Bright Green and White version, using the panel from the 24 Hours Race Car. Actually, I have built the Kart in Bright Green and White. You can see the result and comparison at the end of this review. The front and rear view of the Kart. VIDEO PARTS LEFT FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS This model has the following features: Steering Gearbox STEERING The steering wheel actually steers the Kart, which is a plus. On the other hand, the Kart from 1978 already featured steering like this, so it's not very special. Hand of God (HoG) steering wouldn't make any sense on this model. The Kart does have a pretty big turning radius, which does affect playability. I know the options are limited on a small model, but I would have liked some ingenious way of steering that would result in a smaller turning radius. GEARBOX The Kart has a 2-speed gearbox, and a neutral. The gearbox is operated by the red lever. VIDEO OF FUNCTIONS The video below demonstrates the features of the Kart. B-MODEL Since this set includes instructions for the alternate model, I decided to build it. Apparently this is a Track Car, although that is a broad concept. I can't really tell by the image on the back of the box what kind of Track Car this is supposed to be. There's only one way to find out I still can't pinpoint exactly what kind of Track Car it is, but it is a pretty decent B-model. Unlike the main model, it does have Hand of God steering. And it features an opening bonnet/hood. The steering wheel is for decoration purposes. It doesn't steer the model. For a B-model the design is more than sufficient. The next picture shows the chassis of the car. All things considered, this is a high quality B-model. VIDEO B-MODEL The video below shows a short demonstration of the Track Car. PARTS LEFT This image shows the parts left after building the alternate model. The leftover parts from the A-model are shown on the left. As you can see the B-model uses one red Technic Bush from the extra parts. SUMMARY Besides the rather large turning radius, there are no real downsides to this model. I love the looks and color scheme. It also it contains various unique and rare parts. It even features a working gearbox and working steering wheel. The set comes with printed instructions for the B-model, so it's basically a real 2-in-1 set. For around 25 euros you really can't go wrong with this set. Given the price, this also makes for a perfect gift. A gift for someone else, or gift for yourself?! You decide! I'd say this is definitely a worthy successor of me first Technic set ever!! SCORE How do I grade the good guy in this year's duo. 9 DESIGN Purple and orange work great together in this set. And it does look like a real Kart. 8 BUILDING EXPERIENCE Fun to build. Great introduction to gearboxes and steering. 7 FEATURES Working steering wheel and gear box on a relatively small set. 7 PLAYABILITY Limited turning radius slightly limits playability. 8 PARTS Some new parts and parts in new (rare) colors. 9 VALUE FOR MONEY Totally worth the money. 8,0 THE PERFECT GIFT As a bonus here are some picture of the Kart where the orange and purple color scheme has been changed to bright green and white. Not too bad, not too bad at all. It would probably look even better when the panels at the front could be replaced by bright green as well. My favorite picture of the Green Kart! The green fender works really well. COMPARISON Here you can see a comparison between the Purple/Orange and Green/White kart. I personally like the Purple/Orange better, but it's fun to have options. More image can be found on my Flickr page. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

REVIEW - 42047 - POLICE INTERCEPTOR INTRODUCTION Starting with the 42010 - Off-road Racer and 42011 - Race Car in 2013, TLG released two sets in the first half of each year, using a pull-back motor. The pull-back motor allows the model to be pulled back, followed by forward motion. Usually there's no apparent relation between the two set, other than the ability to combine them into an alternate build. This year there seems to some sort of Cops and Robbers scene going on. A Getaway Racer and a Police Interceptor. That can't be a coincidence. Makes you wonder who will be victorious, the good guys or the bad guys. Let's find out! Note: All images can be clicked for hi-res versions. SET INFORMATION Number: 42047 Title: Police Interceptor Theme: Technic Released: 2016 Part Count: 185 Box Weight: 325 gr Box Dimensions: 26,0 cm x 13,8 cm x 5,9 cm Set Price (MSRP): € 19,99 Price per Part: € 0,108 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX The box has the same dimensions as previous year's pullback motor sets. In the lower right corner there's a visual explanation of the pullback mechanism. Lime green might seem unusual for a police car, but it might work out better than expected. CONTENT OF THE BOX The box contains: 1 Instructions Booklet 1 Sticker Sheet 2 Technic Liftarms 1 Pull-back Motor 3 Bags INSTRUCTION BOOKLET The instruction booklet for the main model. Unfortunately no booklet for the alternate model. STICKER SHEET The sticker sheet shows similar lime green details as found in the rest of the model. PULL-BACK MOTOR AND LIFTARMS The pull-back motor and liftarms haven't been sealed in plastic bags. BAGS Three bags containing the rest of the parts. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This section describes the new and/or otherwise interesting parts. 7L AXLE IN YELLOW The 7L Axle has never been released in yellow before. This year TLG surprised us with releasing axles in different colors, like yellow, red and orange. This set only contains a yellow 7L Axle, but you can checkout my other reviews to see which other axles have been (re)released. This 7L Axle has also been used in the Drag Racer. LIME GREEN PARTS The 30.4mm D. x 20mm Wheels are unique to this set. They have been released in various colors, but never in lime green. The 3x3 L-shaped Thin Liftarms haven't been released in lime green since 2001. TIRES These 43.2 x 22 ZR Tires haven't been used in pullback sets before. They do appear in 48 other sets though, so they aren't very rare. WHITE PANELS If you haven't bought Commander Cody or the Mercedes Arocs this looks like the perfect set to get some of the small white panels. PART LIST This set contains 185 parts, shown below. THE BUILD Since it's a small model, I will skip the building steps. I hereby present the finished Police Interceptor. I was on the fence about lime green, but seeing it in real life takes every doubt away. Although not your average police color scheme, the lime green does add a kick to this set. I do love the overall SUV shape of the model. The Driving Ring Connector used in the chassis of the Race Cart (see my review) are used constructing the roof of this model. That relatively new parts proves to be very versatile. Even though there are quite a few stickers, which add some lime green details to the model, the model looks great without stickers too. It doesn't rely as much on the stickers at the Getaway Racer does. The chassis is pretty basic, using the pullback motor in the rear axle. VIDEO Here's a short video showing the model. LEFTOVER PARTS A few common leftover parts. FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS VIDEO Here's a video demonstrating the pull-back functionality. And yes, my girlfriend was kind enough to catch the model before it fell to the ground B-MODEL The alternate model, the Extreme Police Racer, is a combined build with the Getaway Racer, which you can see on the back of the box. Unfortunately the instructions for the combined B-model are not included, so I didn't get a chance to build it. The double rear-wheeled formula one type racer seems to be cool enough to give it a go. SUMMARY I think this is one of the best looking pull-back racers, together with the 42026 Black-Champion-Racer from 2014. The Getaway Racer looks very good too, but it does rely heavily on it's stickers. Lime green adds a kick to this model. Combined with white it provides a great color scheme. The model itself has a very distinctive SUV look, which is properly executed. Negative aspects are hard to find. This is a winner!! SCORE How do I grade the good guy in this year's duo. 9 DESIGN The lime green actually works. Less dependent on stickers than the Getaway Racer. 7 BUILDING EXPERIENCE Nothing out of the ordinary. 7 FEATURES Limited to the pull-back functionality. 7 PLAYABILITY Combined with the Getaway Racer, kids will love it. 8 PARTS Lime green rims are unique to this set. Lots of useful white parts. 8 VALUE FOR MONEY Pullback sets always deliver a certain value. 7,7 GOOD GUYS DON'T ALWAYS FINISH LAST More image can be found on my Flickr page. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

REVIEW - 42046 - GETAWAY RACER INTRODUCTION Starting with the 42010 - Off-road Racer and 42011 - Race Car in 2013, TLG released two sets in the first half of each year, using a pullback motor. The pullback motor allows the model to be pulled back, followed by forward motion. Usually there's no apparent relation between the two set, other than the ability to combine them into an alternate build. This year there seems to some sort of Cops and Robbers scene going on. A Getaway Racer and a Police Interceptor. That can't be a coincidence. Makes you wonder who will be victorious, the good guys or the bad guys. Let's find out! Note: All images can be clicked for hi-res versions. SET INFORMATION Number: 42046 Title: Getaway Racer Theme: Technic Released: 2016 Part Count: 170 Box Weight: 302 gr Box Dimensions: 26,0 cm x 13,8 cm x 5,9 cm Set Price (MSRP): € 19,99 Price per Part: € 0,118 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX The box has the same dimensions as previous year's pullback motor sets. In the lower right corner there's a visual explanation of the pullback mechanism. The dark model with it's decals sure looks like a cool hot rod. CONTENT OF THE BOX The box contains: 1 Instructions Booklet 1 Sticker Sheet 2 Technic Liftarms 1 Pullback Motor 3 Bags INSTRUCTION BOOKLET Just a single booklet. Unfortunately no booklet for the alternate model. STICKER SHEET The sticker sheet contains a lot of cool stickers with flames and skulls etc. PULLBACK MOTOR AND LIFTARMS The pullback motor and two liftarms are found unbagged. BAGS A total of three bags containing the majority of the parts. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This section describes the new and/or otherwise interesting parts. Actually, this set is the only set of 1H 2016 which doesn't use any new parts, not even parts in a new color. TIRES The Getaway Racer uses four low profile tires (Tire 37 x 22 ZR). RIMS The rims are Wheel 30.4mm D. x 20mm in Pearl Gold, found in 12 other sets. PANELS This set contains three #3 Panelsand three #4 Panels in black. PART LIST This set contains 171 parts, all listed below. THE BUILD This being a small model, I won't show any building steps. Let's skip right to the finished model. Below you can see the end result. In my opinion the model looks great. It's got that hot rod vibe going on and the stickers add darkness to the vibe. Slight problem with this set is that it really needs the stickers to finish the look. Otherwise it's quite dull, with black and dark grey liftarms and panels. The rear view shows the pullback motor connected directly to the rear axle. In this image you can also clearly see the exhaust pipes on the side, which are very well executed. The 3x3 Technic Discs with stickers, used in the rim, result in only seeing a part of the rim. This works very well with the golden rims. The bottom view shows the chassis of the car. Nothing really noteworthy, as you would expect from a pullback set. VIDEO The following video gives you an overview of the finished model. PARTS LEFT These six parts are left after building the model. Seems about right. FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS This being a pullback motor set, it only has a single feature. The video below demonstrates the acceleration of the vehicle. My girlfriend was kind enough to catch the model before it fell to the ground. Or did it hit something before it fell to the ground?! VIDEO This video shows the pullback functionality. B-MODEL The alternate model is a combined build with the Police Interceptor, which you can see on the back of the box. Unfortunately the instructions for the combined B-model are not included, so I didn't get a chance to build it. This would make for a fun challenge, building the B-model without the instructions. SUMMARY Pullback sets are not the most technically advanced models, so you can't expect any other functionality than hitting the walls in your house. However, I think they are very appealing to kids. The fact that this year's pullback sets form a duo adds to the fun. In my opinion TLG hit the nail on the head with the Getaway Racer and Police Interceptor. The Getaway Racer looks very badass, which is something you don't see every day in a Technic set. SCORE How do I grade the bad guy in this year's duo. 8 DESIGN It looks so cool, but it does need the stickers. 7 BUILDING EXPERIENCE Nothing out of the ordinary. 7 FEATURES Limited to the pullback-and-drive functionality. 7 PLAYABILITY Combined with the Police Interceptor, kids will love it. It does need it's Nemesys though. 7 PARTS Collection of common parts. Gold rims could be interesting. 8 VALUE FOR MONEY Pullback sets always deliver a certain value. 7,3 HIT IT! More image can be found on my Flickr page. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

REVIEW - 42044 - DISPLAY TEAM JET INTRODUCTION The smallest of the 2016 sets, is the Display Team Jet. It doesn't seem to have lots of functionality, but maybe the landing gear is retractable. This set kind of reminds me to the 9394 - Jet Plane, although it's obviously a lot smaller. As you can read in my review of the 42052 - Heavy Lift Helicopter basically anything flying is +1 for me, so let's find out if this set also fits the bill. Note: All images can be clicked for hi-res versions. SET INFORMATION Number: 42044 Title: Display Team Jet Theme: Technic Released: 2016 Part Count: 113 Box Weight: 193 gr Box Dimensions: 15,4 cm x 13,8 cm x 5,9 cm Set Price (MSRP): € 9,99 Price per Part: € 0,088 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX Being a small set, it obviously comes in a small box. The Display Team Jet is an Aerobatics Jet, used in air shows. On the box it's flying rather high, but at least it's at a safe distance from the crowd. Front side shows the main model, together with a small section indicating you can use Digital Building instructions to build this model. BACK SIDE The back side shows the B-model, a Stunt Plane. And again a reference to the apps for Digital Building instructions. More on the Stunt Plane later. CONTENT OF THE BOX The box contains: 2 Instructions Booklets (A- and B-model) 1 Sticker Sheet 3 Technic Liftarms 2 Bags INSTRUCTION BOOKLETS Both the instructions for the A- and B-model are included in the box. STICKER SHEET A lot of stickers for such a small set. Apparently no panel is left untouched. LIFTARMS Three liftarms unsealed, nothing out of the ordinary for a small set. BAGS Two bags containing the rest of the parts. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This section describes the new and/or otherwise interesting parts. YELLOW 5L AXLES The 5L Axle in Yellow has never been released before, so it's one of the new parts for this year. BLACK 7L FLEX AXLES For the layman this seems a common part, but the 7L Soft Axle actually has never been released in black before. Combined with the re-release of the 19L Soft Axle in black, this will open up lots of possibilities. For those of you thinking you've read this text before; you are right, the new Drag Racer contains these new 7L Flex Axles too. WHITE PANELS This small set comes with a whopping 10 panels. Great for the ones who like panels. Not so great if you think TLG is using too much panels lately. RUDDER This part, the Small Bionicle Wing, is the same as the one used in last year's 42033 - Record Breaker. PART LIST This set contains 113 parts, all listed below. THE BUILD This is the collection of parts, used to build the Jet. It sure looks like we are getting a landing gear. The build is fun, but pretty straightforward. There aren't any special or cool techniques used in this set. It almost took me more time to apply all the stickers than to build the actual model. FINISHED MODEL The finished Jet does look cool though. The white and yellow color scheme, combined with the stickers, work really well. I have seen people refer to the plane as being orange, but it's definitely yellow. Technic (or LEGO in general) tends to have some color variation when it comes to yellow. I do concur this is the warmer variant of yellow, but it's not orange. The back of the plane looks nice too, although I am not a big fan of the rudder part. It looks too detailed, compared to the other panels. It's not a big deal though, and maybe it's just me. PARTS LEFT Only three common parts left. FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS This set has a single feature and that is a retractable landing gear. It's operated by the black 12T Double Bevel Gear near the cockpit. In the following picture you can see the landing gear retracted. This image shows the landing gear when the plane is ready for landing. Hopefully the pilot will roll the plane before landing, but you probably know what I mean VIDEO Here's s short video demonstrating the Display Team Jet. B-MODEL This set also includes the building instructions for the B-model, a Stunt Plane. The building experience for the Stunt Plane is more or less the same as for the Jet. Well, what do you expect when both models are planes with a limited number of parts. For an alternative model the Stunt Plane looks fine. There's not a lot of functionality in this plane, but it's worth mentioning that the tail wheel allows the plane to roll on a flat surface. The plane also has working propellors. Both functions are demonstrated in the video. Unfortunately, the landing gear of the Stunt Plane is not retractable. PARTS LEFT A couple of extra leftover parts, but it's nice to see that most of the parts have been used in the B-model as well. Actually, there's probably an extra yellow Technic Smooth 1/2 Bush left. I just found it on my desk, but it could belong to one of the other sets. VIDEO Here's a video demonstrating the Stunt Plane. SUMMARY Two nice planes for 13 bucks, that's basically what you get. Both models look good and the set has some interesting new parts. Especially the 7L Flex Axle will be very popular. It comes with a decent collection of white panel, although they are very common nowadays. Both models have limited functionality, but each of them has at least one function to give the model some playability for kids, other than the swooshability that is. Okay, it might lack some proper functions, but I still think kids will love this set. I can see kids running around with one of the planes in their hands. All in all I think this set delivers what you'd expect. SCORE Let's see how this set flies! Remember that the grades are based on it being a small set. Obviously a set like this, cannot be compared with a Mercedes flagship. 8 DESIGN For a small set, the model looks very authentic. 7 BUILDING EXPERIENCE No surprises. 7 FEATURES Just the retractable landing gear. 8 PLAYABILITY It has swooshability, so I see kids running around with this model. 7 PARTS Lots of panels, if you are into that. 8 VALUE FOR MONEY Can't go wrong with these small sets. 7,5 FUN FOR KIDS More image can be found on my Flickr page. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

Introduction In 2014, Lego released the Ultra Agents theme, with a bunch of hugjly trained agents, using lots of techological gadget to fight super vilains. That sounded promising, and it was! Today I'll review one of the entry sets of 2015 wave: Invizable Gold Getaway. One agent, one bad guy, a cool looking and transformable motorcycle, that sound great! But is it really? Set information Set Name: Invizable Gold Getaway Set Number: 70167 Number of Pieces: 236 Theme: Ultra Agents Year Release: 2015 Prices: £17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 #70167 on Brickset #70167 on Rebrickable Packaging The front of the box shows the artwork for this wave: The Ultra Agents logo and Jack Fury looking straight into Antimatter's eyes. I'm almost sure they're doing a thumb battle, but we'll probably never knows. Of course, Invizable's ride and Steve Zeal's motorcycle are shown in action, with Invizable dragging a safe. It will be your mission to prevent him from stealing the gold! In the bottom left corner of the box is an indication that this set contains Appbricks. We'll see what these are later in this review. The rear of the box reveal all the play features. Agent Zeal's motorcycle transforms and can now fly, while Invizable's craft is shown sailing on water. Not sure if that's the best way to escape a flying motorcycle! The vault door can be opened to get the gold ingot it contains. And of course the stud shooters shoot studs... There is also an illustration of how to use Appbricks to build an Appbrick gadget and how to use to unlock content in the Ultra Agents 2 app. A side of the box presents the minifigs included, Steve Zeal and Invizable. There is also a stud shooter as size reference, and lots of translations in various languages. Content of the box The box contains 3 unnumbered bags of parts, an instructions booklet and a stickers sheet. There is a bag of large parts, a bag of medium parts and a bag of small parts. But the large parts bag also contains a small bag of small parts... Instruction The instructions booklet cover's art is exactly the same as the front of the box. And the back cover shows the usual "win boy" disguised as a CMF robot. Instructions pages are pretty clear and I got no problem identifying parts and colors. Their background is light blue with a grey fading and some technical printings near the edges. Two pages inform you that you should get the Ultra Agents 2 app, to use your newly acquired Appbricks. Those two pages don't give much details on the app itself, but that's something I'll explain at the end of this review. Just after the app advertisement, there is a page showing the whole range of this Ultra Agents wave. Minifigures The set contains two glasses-wearing minifigures: Steve Zeal and Invizable. Agent Zeal wears a nice enhanced suit with printed legs, and despite his grim face, he seems like a cool guy with his sunglasses and messy hair. Invizable attire seems to come straight from a 70's gangster movie or a Beach Boys video clip, with a nice dark red suit, a round collar shirt with what seems like a bills pattern, a large round pendant, a tan cowboy hat and golden glasses. Note that Invizable was featured in the Ninjago animated serie and seemed to be on the "good side". The torso's back of each minifig is printed, even if Invizable back printing is pretty simple. Steve's head is doublesided and shows him with a big smile. Invizable's head is also doublesided, picturing his face without the sunglasses. Interesting parts The set contains some rare parts. The 2x2 brick with rotation joint socket in trans-light blue only appears in 3 sets. The 6x2x2 windscreen with handle and the Light Cover with Internal Bar / Bionicle Barraki Eye in trans-light blue are only available in the Ultra Agents Mission HQ. The 6x6 dish with solid studs in black is new this year and is only available in UltraCopter vs AntiMatter(but is available with hollow studs). The 2x2 curved brick with lip is only found in the Gorilla Grodd Goes Banana set, on Wonder Woman invisible jet. Coincidence? Maybe... The trans-black 4x4 dish is exclusive to this set, even if it was produced before but printed in Star Wars sets. The most interesting parts of the set are the dishes. You got one exclusive 4x4 dish, four new 6x6 dishes in black, four 6x6 webbed dishes in light bluish grey and four 6x6 webbed dishes in trans-light blue. Build The first thing we'll build is Invizable's little jet. It's a very easy build, with only around 20 bricks, but with three stickers! Note that you'll have to fold down the wings for the jet to stand. The safe is then built. It has a nice look with the trans-black parts, a few trans-yellow parts and the two stickers with technical patterns. Surprisingly the base has both dimensions uneven. The door mechanism is well done and could easily used in MOCs. There is also a chain that can be fixed on the rear of Invizable's jet. With the first steps of agent Zeal's motorcycle we'll build a strong base on which everything will be connected. This picture illustrate something that bothers me in this set. We got 14 trans-light blue 1x2 plates, but most of them aren't visible in the final model. I don't know why the designer hid so many of these inside the model, while they could be shown and enhance the futuristic look of the motorcycle. The rear wheels assembly feels really bulky, and although the trans-blue rotation ball socket gives it a nice touch, it's not very nice looking. I really think the designer could have done it in a different and better looking way. As you can see on the final build, the front wheel construction is much less bulky than the rear wheel, and I think more fitting for a motorcycle. On each side of Agent Zeal are parts that simulate lights and what seems to be thrusters. There are also supports for two white studs shooters. These parts are very sleeks thanks to black curved part, but add to the bulky feeling of the build. The last build of the set is the Appbrick gadget. AppBricks are 1x1 black bricks with a stud on one side, and a special stud on the opposite side. To make them detectable by touchscreens, they are made of a different material. The build is extremely simple, but note that you can build the AppBrick gadget like you want, as long as the AppBricks stay at the same position. The spare parts notably include a 16L Dark bluish grey chain and a black lever with white base. Play features The main play feature is the transformation of Agent Zeal motorcycle. I was surprised that the wheels rotate toward the top, my sci-fi instinct would have made them rotate toward the bottom. The model looks pretty cool when transformed and obviously feels less bulky. I'm sure most will play with it in this form, as I found the "normal" mode not that easy to play with. First there is no steering mechanism, and with wheels that large and the blue bionicle eyes preventing you to tilt the model, you're up for only straight chases... The rear wheels don't turn well, but that's probably due to the parts being new. Agent Zeal is pursuing Invizable, trying to escape with the gold filled safe! Let's bet he is a formidable shooter, since the studs shooter guns are angled and so can't fire in front of the motorcycle. Some new sets (like the upcoming minecraft sets) includes stud shooters on plates. these would have been a better choice, but maybe they weren't available when this set was designed. Ultra Agents 2 App Lego create mobile applications to go with its latest themes. There is a Ninjago app, a Bionicle app, and of course an Ultra Agents app. There are in fact two Ultra Agents applications, the first feature last year's sets while the second features sets from this wave, including Invizable Gold Getaway. The application give access to interactive graphics comics, games and alt-builds instructions. The AppBrick gadgets can be used to play games or discover secrets in the comics. I'm not very familliar with that sort of applications, but it seems well done and rather easy to use for children. Even I was able to use it, and get access to the alt-build for this set. It doesn't use much bricks, but I'm pretty there is another alt-build that could be unlocked by winning games and discovering secrets in the comics. Conclusion Design: 9/10 - A bit too bulky, but still a great motorcycle! An the other smaller builds are quite nice. Parts: 10/10 - The parts selection is really nice with brackets, hinges and of course the dishes, and a nice amount of rare and unusual parts. Build: 8/10 - Clever and sturdy builds, but nothing exceptionnal. Playability: 8/10 - If you like vilain chases, this set is made for you. And who never dreamt of riding a transformable motorcycle? Minifigs: 8/10 - Agent Zeal suit is quite common (appears 8 times), but Invizable clothes are great, if you like their 70's vibe. Price: 10/10 - A very good price given the parts selection, even more when on sale. Overall: 53/60 (88%) - A great set, fun and affordable, with nice minifigures. Not much play features, but sufficient for a set of that size. In my opinion perfect for the targeted 7-12 years old children market.

Introduction: Have you ever dreamed of that moment when your ultimate wish finally comes true as you step out of the shuttle and, reaching down to touch the rocky surface of your destination, finally and irrevocably demolish your childhood impressions of the moon as a blob of Swiss cheese? Yeah, me neither. If you happened to be able to fit inside a LEGO brick, you could come pretty close in this 7467 International Space Station set. But although I’m short, I’m not quite that short. So I’ll stay on the outside, and see if I can bring you a different perspective on the appealing mess of solar panels, extending arms, and moving clips that this set is. Your first look at it comes courtesy of Brickset. Second, a boxed shot from BrickLink. Next I’ll present you with my picture of this seven-paneled, heavily stickered set. Looks pretty technologically advanced. I’d like to see what size those panels would be to scale! Product Details: Name: International Space Station Number: #7467 Theme: Discovery Year: 2003 Pieces: 162 Minifigures: 0 Price: USD $15.00 Source: Brickset Interested in building it yourself? You can download the instructions here! Instructions: Since this is such an old set, and one that was given to me used, I don’t have the box. But I do have the instructions, so never fear, you’re not getting out of all the paperwork! Here’s a random page. The booklet has a nice solar system atmosphere. And the back inside pages. Is anyone else wondering why the minifigure size shuttle gets the same size solar panels as this set? Let’s take a look at the back. It’s rather curiously square, but all in all, the instruction booklet is pretty nice. I mentioned the stickers earlier, and I’ll take the opportunity to state the obvious and say that they are already applied. Only two are missing, to the best of my knowledge (the two sides of the shuttle’s tail fin); I’ll point that out more specifically when we get there. I counted twenty-eight total (sure glad I didn’t have to apply all those myself!). Of those, three at least are STAMPS (STickers Across Multiple PieceS) and two others might be STAMPS if they hadn’t gotten ever so slightly crumpled somewhere along the line. But! There is one piece of printed goodness! Spot me if you can! Build: Below is a shot of the complete parts selection available in this set. I didn’t dare to take the pieces with STAMPS apart but the rest is dismantled. And yes, that’s twenty-four clips (sixteen white 1x1s and four double sided old grey arms). With all the random solar panels and what not sticking out all over, I figured a “barebones” view might help. Next up – remember those twenty-four clips? This thing is insanely poseable. What does I.S.S. stand for, you ask? Well, it might stand for International Space Station, but Insane Series of Solar panels is another good guess. Now a view from the back: Note the chrome plated piece on the end of the metal detector! Now let’s take a good look at the shuttle! For such a small build, it’s really nice. Note the missing tail fin stickers, and the printed nosepiece! Also notice the placing of cones inside a brick with two technic pin holes. If I recall correctly, that would be an “illegal” technique by today’s standards. The technic pin holes are ever so slightly smaller than the size of a stud, I believe. Snap it on the Insane Series of Solar panels and you’re ready to go! Of course, extreme poseability brings problems of its own with it. “Houston, we have a problem!” Important! Smoke and excess flame NOT included in the International Space Station. As for the building experience itself, if you like clipping things together, and if you like mind boggling almost-not-quite mirror image building, you’ll love this. For the rest of us, it’s not bad, as long as you aren’t too concerned about following the instructions in every jot and tittle. Conclusion: So here we are, wrapping up our look at the International Space Station. It’s got a few things going against it; the excessive amount of stickers, the fact that it can easily be inconveniently posed, and (in my opinion) the “old” greys. On the other hand, it is impressively tall, surprisingly sturdy, and includes a very neat little shuttle. So let’s systematize this and see what we’ve got! Playability: 6/10 – Like I said, this thing is pretty well over the top in terms of poseability. But on the other hand, there isn’t really a whole lot to do other than swoosh the little shuttle around. To be sure, swooshing shuttles is sometimes satisfying, but other times you just want to have an all-out battle. So it ranks just above average for me! Design: 8/10 – It is pretty cool, that I’ve got to admit. Also, given the projections sticking out all over the place, the final build is remarkably sturdy and the attachment point for the shuttle is at the perfect spot. Swooshablility: 9/10 – Obviously, you’re not going to be swooshing the station itself around – at least, I hope not! – but when it comes to the shuttle, that thing really can be fun! Price: 9/10 – Let’s just say that if you find this for $15 dollars, it’s a bargain! Right now it is priced at just over $85 dollars new on BrickLink. It has quite a few nifty white pieces, lots of clips which I’m always using and losing, and stands at a satisfying size. Personally, I’m not a fan of the old greys so that counts against it, but otherwise it’s a nice, well priced set… that is, it was. Overall: 8/10 – Well above the average score, this set is aesthetically appealing without completely losing all play value. While I can’t see the seven year olds flocking around it, it seems to be pretty eye catching for slightly older children. And space has always been an intriguing theme! So… we have lift off! Now let’s go and disprove this Swiss cheese thing once and for all! Important! Smoke and excess flame NOT included in the International Space Station.

Hello and welcome to my first Review on Eurobricks! I got this Bootleg Version of Breez from my Mom who was in Thailand 2 weeks prior. Since there are hardly any Reviews about Bootleg Figures, I thought it was a good idea to make a Review out of this obscure find. Since I don't have anything like a light box, I "crafted" one myself with a chair and 2 sheets of paper,so I apologize for this low-bugdet decision, I hope you can still see everything clear and sharp. So is this a good copy or does it belong in the trash? Let's get started! Box: Front: Bootleg 2 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr The Front of the box, the figure came already assembled. There's also the instruction manual printed on the backside of the cardboard. Back: Bootleg 1 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr Here we have the Earth Tutelary, War for the invader from Space. Gotta love the broken English these Knock-offs have. Interesting Parts: Special Parts: Bootleg 3 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr Here are the most interesting parts of the set. The Torso bone has an axle connection right under the upper ball joint, which would be really useful for MOCs. You cant really see it here so I made a second picture of it. The Silver Leg shell just states "Hero" on it. The Torso shell has a very cool texture on it which gives it some extra detail. Instead of the 2.0 Head, there are using a red Glatorian Head, also the Headgear has an Axle Connector. Torso-Bone: Bootleg 4 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr The Torso bone again, now you can clearly see the axle connection port. In my opinion the most useful part of this whole figure. Color-Comparison: Bootleg 5 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr On the left side we have the Bootleg parts. The Colors are pretty spot on, but you can clearly see the difference between them, especially on the silver headgear. But the brick quality isn't that bad actually, its quite good for a Bootleg. The Figure: Front: Bootleg 6 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr Breez from the front. Yes, she has blue spikes instead of red ones. I dont know how you can mess this up but they did. Edit: Thanks to Kalhiki I just saw that she also has the 1.0 Core instead of the 2.0 one! Back: Bootleg 7 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr The Back. Nothing special to see here. Posing: Pose 1: Bootleg 8 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr While it has a more cheaper plastic than the official LEGO, it kinda has a good quality. Bricks have enough friction for more comlicated Poses and they dont fell like they will break off that easy. Pose 2: Bootleg 9 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr This also works, thanks to the hand having enough friction to hold the whole figure. Final Verdict: Bootleg 10 by Dosenbrot!, auf Flickr A final picture. Verdict: You know, for a "cheap knock-off" the quality off the bricks is pretty good, especially since you need it for Action Figures so they don't break too fast. It also has some nice Parts, especially the Torso. But would I combine this one with my real LEGO? Probably not. So all in all, a pretty solid set. I hope you enjoyed my Review, leave me a comment down below and thanks for Reading! Cheers!

Eurobricks MCW Moderator and Reviewers Academy Teacher LuxorV has reviewed the latest LEGO Ideas offering: 21304 Doctor Who. Check out the in-depth review in the Licensed Themes forum.

Let me start with a little confession: while I've stumbled upon bits and pieces of the Doctor Who series in the past, I never really watched a full episode until last summer, when a friend of mine managed to convince me. I started with season one of the 2005 reboot, and was not really thrilled with it. But I kept going, and things got a bit more engaging. Then, after the long drawn 10th Doctor-Rose affair found its conclusion, and Tennant said his final 'I don't want to go.', I found my Doctor. I know Whovians are forever debating about who the best Doctor is, and I do not want to start a debate here. I just love the fact TLG included Matt Smith's 11th Doctor in this set, instead of making it a Capaldi solo one. Smith's incarnation is the most captivating of the reboot, in my opinion, and watching him go around as the Doctor is like watching a fireworks' show, waiting for that moment when the big shot will be fired. Does the new 21304 Ideas Doctor Who set keep up with these expectation? Let's find out. Geronimo! Set Info Theme: LEGO IDEAS Set name: Doctor Who Set Number: 21304 Price: US $ 59.99, GB £ 49.99, EUR € 59,99 Pieces: 623 Figures: 4 + 2 brick built Daleks Year of release: 2015 Links: Peeron, Bricklink and Brickset. Disclaimer - As it is based on a product based on an ongoing TV series, this review will contain references and possible spoilers. I would advise you to get your bearings on Doctor Who (at least since the 2005 reboot) before reading it. I'll include links to external sources (wikia articles, images and even few YouTube videos) to help non-Whovians, but don't blame me for not using spoiler tags. The Box The box, as usual with LEGO IDEAS sets, is more compact than those of other themed sets of similar parts/price range. Its size is 26.3 x 19 x 7.3 cm, and the cardboard is sturdier than that used for common LEGO boxes, meaning it's meant to be a collection item in itself, instead of just a container for the parts and instructions. Front The front shows a picture of the complete set, with the console and open TARDIS connected and under attack by a pair of Daleks, while the 12th Doctor and Clara run around in circles trying to find a strategy, or perhaps to understand why there are Daleks inside the control room, or even where the walls have gone at all... Meanwhile, a Weeping Angel and the 11th Doctor serenely watch the scene from a small window-like panel in the middle of the right side. A draw of a flying TARDIS, the LEGO, BBC and Doctor Who logos complete the upper part of the composition, while the age and set number info are in the lower left corner. On the right, a LEGO IDEAS logo also informs us that this is the 11th (coincidence? Rule 8: Never ignore a coincidence. Unless you're busy, then always ignore a coincidence.) set in this line. The background is composed of dark blue hexagons with lighter blue lines and areas of yellow-orange to lighten it and give more visibility to the mainly grey/blue hues of the build. Back The back includes two 'play feature' panels, one which is very reminiscent of the last shots of Time of the Doctor, with Clara and the newly regenerated 12th Doctor in the control room, and the other showing the moves you need to perform to open the TARDIS walls and connect it to the console area, while Capaldi sternly waits to be able to step inside the control room. At the bottom, you can see the four minifigs and a side view of the brick-built DalekTM. Each character is identified by his/her/its name and a 'REGENERATION' notice explains that there is no mistake, but the blur indicates the transition between 11th and 12th Doctors; whether the fez also regenerated into a sonic screwdriver is unclear and will probably be the cause of everlasting debate for future generations. Finally, a blue panel on the left, including info in six languages about the LEGO IDEAS programme, and the LEGO, BBC and Doctor Who logos fill the rest of the space. Sides The top of the box shows a 1:1 size shot of the 12th Doctor, flanked by a menacing Weeping Angel about to attack the 11th and Clara, while Matt Smith is probably taunting it. LEGO logo and set number are on the left. If you look carefully, you'll also notice a strange crack on the upper left. I'm not really sure if it's just an accidental feature due to un-careful handling, or if someone is trying to enter this universe via this scar in space and time. The bottom side is covered in the usual LEGO legal warnings and copyright statements, plus the dedicated BCC ones this time around. Contents Inside Upon opening the box, we find six un-numbered bags, and the instructions manual. Following the IDEAS tradition (with few notable exceptions), the set does not make use of stickers. Recoloured parts This set makes large use of re-coloured parts, or as others could say, is has been a perfect excuse for TLG to start producing more parts in (mainly) Dark Blue. Therefore, we have 8 Dark Blue Tile 2 x 2 Corner, 6 Dark Blue Tile, Round 1 x 1, 2 Dark Blue Plate 6 x 6, 4 Dark Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Clip Horizontal on End, 4 Dark Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Handle on End - Closed Ends, 24 Dark Blue Window 1 x 2 x 2 Flat Front, 14 Dark Blue Glass for Window 1 x 2 x 2 Flat Front, 4 Dark Blue Plate 3 x 3, 4 Dark Blue Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Studs on 1 Side, 4 Dark Tan Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Studs on 2 Sides, 4 Dark Blue Hinge Plate 1 x 4 Swivel Top / Base Complete Assembly, 2 Dark Tan Tile, Round 2 x 2 with Hole, 5 Dark Blue Tile 1 x 3 and 5 Black Plate, Round 1 x 1 with Open Stud. New pieces New pieces are equally as interesting. They include the two Dark Blue Tile 1 x 3 with decoration which form the POLICE BOX sign (4 of each), the Dark Blue Glass for Window 1 x 2 x 2 Flat Front with the St. JOHN AMBULANCE logo, the White Glass for Window 1 x 2 x 2 Flat Front with the Police Phone instructions, the 8 White Glass for Window 1 x 2 x 2 Flat Front with the windows pattern, the White Glass for Window 1 x 4 x 6 with TARDIS door interior pattern, 2 Dark Tan Dish 2 x 2 Inverted (Radar) with Dalek top dish designs, the Light Bluish Gray Tile, Round 2 x 2 with Gallifreyan symbols, the 2 Dark Bluish Gray Road Sign Clip-On 2 x 2 Square Open O Clip with Gallifreyan symbols, the 2 Pearl Gold Sonic Screwdriver, the Dark Bluish Gray Tile, Round 2 x 2 with Open Stud, the Trans-Clear Minifig, Neck Bracket with 2 Back Studs and the 3 Trans-Clear Tile, Round 1 x 1 with Pin. All printed parts are exceptionally good in quality and detail, and faithful to the source material. The only part which is slightly different from the original is the sonic screwdriver, not sporting the black on the handle and the chrome/metallic gray on the head. That is excusable, though, as the black part would be right where the minifig hand grasps the accessory, and a black paint there would be easily removed through use; moreover, it would probably be too difficult to have both the green and chrome/metallic paints on the head, and the printing process could turn the part into a mess all too easily. All in all, the part is readily recognisable, and works well as is. Rare pieces The set also includes a few rare parts, such as 10 Dark Blue Plate 2 x 2 Corner, a Dark Bluish Grey Minifig, Utensil Zip Line Handle, 3 Dark Bluish Gray Arm Skeleton, Bent with Clips at 90 degrees (Vertical Grip), 2 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Disk 3 x 3, 2 Trans-Light Blue Technic Wedge Belt Wheel (Pulley), 4 Light Bluish Gray Wedge 2 x 2 (Slope 45 Corner) and 4 Dark Blue Plate 1 x 3. Extras The extras include the usual assortment of small round plates, generic parts and tiles, cheese slopes and Technic bits. Of special interest is the second copy of the sonic screwdriver, which will allow both Doctors to carry theirs. Manual Front The front cover of the instructions manual has the same basic picture and composition as the front of the box. In addition to that, a link to the LEGO IDEAS website is provided, along with a note in 8 languages informing us that the same booklet is available in each respective language on the site. On the inside cover, we find a short text which gives us context and info about both the Doctor and the BBC TV show. The first page is dedicated to the 12th Doctor and Clara inside the TARDIS control room. This, along with providing a stylish start to the manual, gives us an idea of the material the set is based on. The main difference between the pic and the actual LEGO set is the orange colour of the tubes in the column you can spot right behind the Doctor. This difference seems to be related to the fact that the TARDIS control room scheme used in the set is that of the 7th season of the show, with Matt Smith's 11th Doctor's blue accents, while the photo is from the 8th season and sports Capaldi's orange. Here's a random page. As usual, pieces call-outs and step numbers help us during the build. The background is very similar to that behind the picture on the box and manual fronts, but with a more yellow-ish/tan hue. The manual, following the IDEAS sets' tradition, includes tons of info and details on both the source material and set design process. I limited the parts shown here to the above mentioned first pages and this, which is one of the last, giving us an insight on Andrew Clark, who submitted the original project on the LEGO IDEAS site, and his experience designing and finalising the set with LEGO designers. The very last pages are dedicated to the usual LEGO commercial ads, and since a LEGO Dimensions Doctor Who Level Pack is about to hit the market, what better product to show on this manual? Minifigures Following the order in which the minifigures are shown on the back of the box, we start with the 11th Doctor. 11th Doctor This peculiar incarnation of the Doctor displays one of the most recognisable looks in the entire series, with his distinctive bow tie, and the iconic (since seasons 7, mainly) waistcoat. For this set, designers decided to use his brown coat from season 7 (though it could have been a bit darker), which is one of the main attires for the 11th Doctor, even if not the one he used in the episode Time of the Doctor the set is supposedly based on. All in all, I really like this version of Matt Smith's character, and I've even come to like the red stripped shirt, which I did not particularly appreciate in the first images. The head has a double expression: the stern but satisfied look the Doctor sports when dealing with important matters, and the smiling face he uses when happy/joking, or, sometimes, when taunting his enemies right in the middle of a crisis. I know some lamented a lack of precision in the hair piece choice for this minifigure. I must say I quite like this part for him (it is the one I used to use for my custom version up 'till now). What I'd personally change is the hue of brown: the set uses a Reddish Brown, while I prefer, as more accurate, a Dark Reddish Brown. 12th Doctor The post-regeneration 12th Doctor wears the purple coat mostly used by Smith in the end of season 7, and only worn by Capaldi in the final moments of Time of the Doctor and in the first episode of season 8. As you can notice, the bow tie is gone just before the regeneration (check ), and so is the smile. The 12th Doctor is a sterner man then his previous incarnation, and his smiles are quite seldom, and mainly meant to scare his enemies. Also because of this, the head only has one print. Since the 12th Doctor is dubbed 'eyebrows', LEGO designers marked the characteristic feature making for an unmistakable resemblance.The hair piece is a new mould, and looks very good on this figure. It is sculpted with lots of details, especially on the back. Since, as already mentioned, a LEGO Dimension pack including another version of the 12th Doctor is about to be available, I managed to get hold of that too, to be able to show you a comparison between the two figs. The Dimensions one sports the usual (as of season 8) attire of Capaldi's doctor, dark blue with crimson red highlights. I can honestly say that I like both versions and I would be hard-pressed to choose one as the best of the two. Head and hair pieces are the same for both figures. Clara Clara Oswald, being the companion who followed the Doctor in his transition between the 11th and 12th incarnations, was the natural choice for this set. Her minifigure is indeed spot-on. I like both the torso and leg pieces, with distinctive, yet generic enough designs to be used for other themes, too. I may be a bit out of date with minifigures' printing styles, but I'm sure this is the first minifigure I own with the back of the legs printed like the front and sides, which I largely appreciate. Just like the 11th Doctor, Clara's had has a dual face print: a serene look, and a more perplexed one (who wouldn't be perplexed after dealing with Matt Smith's Doctor for a bit?). The hair piece is a common one, but still a good choice for the character. Weeping Angel Warning: this picture could turn into an actual Weeping Angel, which could either break your neck, or send you back in time to an era without LEGO, and then feed on our AFOL's despair. That said, the Weeping Angel figure is quite a surprise. Not for its design, which works very well, but because Weeping Angels play a very minor role in Time of the Doctor, and in most of the Clara era. To be perfectly honest, I would have expected a Cyberman to be in this set in its place. To the figure itself, now. As you can see, the detail of the vest is really good, and very reminiscent of that used for the Statue of Liberty CMF. The back of the torso has a print which is normally covered by the Chima wings, which are attached with the new neck bracket. The head has two faces: the calm, statue-like one, and the aggressive, maniacal one, which is very fitting for one of the most frightful and relentless enemies in the Doctor Who universe. The choice of the hair piece seems very good, too. Build Getting started The build starts with the control room, and, specifically, with its base. As you can see, this portion makes quite extensive use of Trans-Light Blue parts; too bad the rest of the build will cover them and make it almost impossible to spot them. Step on it Just a few more steps, and we have the control room floor, entrance platform and stairs in place. The supports surrounding the platform will remain empty 'till the very last steps of this portion of the build. How to build an hexagon The central column is treated as a separate part for most of its build. The lower portion, made of mainly Technic parts, will allow us to build the hexagonal console, which is no easy task with the current LEGO palette of pieces. You can see through the Trans-Light Blue cylinders that the column is strengthened by the use of two Technic axle parts. Keen observers will also notice that those pieces are of two different colours, one black and one gray. Whether this is meant to represent the internal mechanisms of the TARDIS, or it is a simple strategy for kids to better tell the two apart is not clear to me. Few round plates and two radar dishes complete the top of the column with a really simplified version of the Time Rotors. Almost there With the console in place and all the controls ready to be used, we are almost at the last steps of this section. Watch where you go! The railings, external control panels and movable monitors, the control room is now complete. As-sem-ble! Next up are the two Daleks, which are not considered as part of the minifigures, due to their brick built nature. The build is pretty easy, and modular. Many fans will be able to build their army, with different colours. The only exclusive part is the printed dish, of course. Ex-ter-mi-nate! Once build, the Dalek is ready to do his job, which is to ex-ter-mi-nate all non-Dalek life forms in the universe. As one would easily assume, they are not the best species you could encounter in your time and space travels. These specific Daleks, given their colour, seem to be based in design on the Time War variant, as deduced from the Dalek Colour Schemes and Hierarchy map. You looked shorter on TV Though the original Dalek design marked them as circa 163 cm tall, these LEGO Dalek, probably on steroids, are taller than a minifigure, meaning they are somewhere around 2 meters in (LEGO scale) height. Laying foundations And now we get to the other star of the set, the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension In Space) herself, or, as the 11th Doctor calls her, Sexy! Of course, we start from the base, which is an unusual 7x7 studs. This size is reached by the use of a 6x6 plate, two 1x6 and a 1x1 additional plates, and kept together by the overlying layer of tiles and smaller plates. Through the door, or maybe not One of the most peculiar features of this set is the fact that the parts composing the exterior door of the TARDIS are those opposed to the part of the build that actually opens up to reveal the interior. As counterintuitive as that may be, the explanation is quite simple (as we'll see more clearly in as short while): the back of the 'door' must be completely visible in the assembled-with-the-control-room stage, so it needs to be a whole wall. Fans may still mod their TARDIS so that the front doors are on the split side, but the inner face door is opposed to them. It's just a matter of personal preference. Almost a cabinet The rest of the walls are built very easily, as the window parts must just be stuck one upon the other in a repetitive manner. Four walls and a roof By adding the POLICE BOX signs and the roof, we complete the build and are almost ready to start to investigate the play features. I'll just spend a few words on the signs themselves by saying that though the gap between the two parts looks a bit awkward, it is better looking in real life than you could expect from pictures. This thing is huge! Due to the fact that it includes a raised platform that must match up with the console room, and the strange height/width LEGO ratio, the closed TARDIS is huge when compared to a minifigure, way bigger than its real-life counterpart. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful build and a great model to display. Finished set All together Once we assemble the control room and the open TARDIS, we get the full set, complete with its minifigures and brick-built Daleks. The set has a satisfying size, which gives it importance, and the parts connect with harmony, both in size and colour scheme. Inside the TARDIS As mentioned, the inside of the TARDIS includes a raised platform which connects with the one at the back of the control room. This can also be used to place and store your favourite Doctor, or Clara (the winged Weeping Angel and the Daleks do not fit in) when travelling through the time and space continuum. Ready... Connect! The two parts connect via a combination of Technic axle (on the control room side) and brick (inside the blue box). This link will keep the two in place during play, but will not bear excessive roughness. While the TARDIS is pretty swooshable, the rest of the build isn't, and should not be used as an extended space-ship mid flight. Bonus Images How LEGO Weeping Angels earned their name Is this Trenzalore already? Trenzalore How I met your Dalek Finally! Final Comments Overall, this IDEAS set is very faithful to its source material and pretty rich in both details and minifigs (counting the brick-built Daleks in this category for once). The colour scheme, though guided by the original one, is well done and harmonic. Moreover, you get two models, which can combine into a bigger one or be used separately, for both play and display purposes, and also offer great potential for mod-ers and moc-ers. Design & Colour scheme – 10/10 (Very accurate to the source material and rich of well-finished details.) Minifigs – 10/10 (Though most Whovians will lament the lack of one Doctor or Companion or the other, the choices made for this set are very good, and the design and detail of the figures are great.) Parts – 9/10 (Great variety of useful parts, a reasonable amount of new pieces, and quite a few cool printed ones (no stickers!).) Playability – 10/10 (As a Doctor Who set, the only limit to playability is one's imagination, and both Andrew Clark and the LEGO designers did their best to add nice play features to the set. The one I find most entertaining is the 'regeneration feature' shown on the back of the box, though!) Build – 8/10 (Nothing too complex, but some efficient solutions are used, along with quite a bit of SNOT-ing for the TARDIS and the hexagonal console.) Price – 10/10 (For a set linked to a license, this one is extremely well priced, as you get 600+ parts for 60 €.) Overall: 9.5/10 Excellent As always, questions, comments, and pic requests welcome! If you like my reviews, and would like to learn how it's done, please consider joining the Reviewers Academy: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=20631

Who let the wolves out? Were they ever in? These questions and more will get no follow-up in this new-fangled review of… Set Name: Worriz' Combat Lair Set #: 70009 Theme: Legends of Chima Pieces: 664 Minifigures: 6 Year of Release: 2013 Price at Release: USD 70, GBP 60, EUR 70 Bricklink it! Flickr album! INTRODUCTION Full frontal disclosure: I was never very excited about Chima and I'm not sad that it will no longer be with us. I like the minifigures for their parts, especially the feline faces which look great in a number of custom minifigure applications, but I never cared for the sets. The whole animal-look thing was an interesting concept, but more often than not it seemed to me that the animal-head ate up a ton of parts, leaving the rest of a model to be a bony, technic jumble. I'm mostly a playset kind of guy anyway; if I'm going to like a vehicle, it better have some meat on its bones. How, then, am I here right now, reviewing one of the largest purely-vehicular sets of this entire theme? Easy: sales. I'm a sucker for sales. I've since learned to curb my wallet a bit, but at 40% off the old me would've bought just about anything. Since I own the set, I thought I might as well go through in a detailed review and see if it meets my 'all Chima sets are a crappy bunch of technic with an animal head' expectations. INSTRUCTIONS Usually set artwork ranges from 'inoffensive' to 'quite good,' but I must say they were stretching here to make this set look exciting. They've placed most of the minifigures in physically impossible positions, including a couple of the wolves 'standing' on the truck. Do you see how, on the front booklet, one of the rotors on the helicopter is awkwardly behind those old gun-like pieces? It's like that on the box too. There's really nothing about this artwork that would make me want this set. Even though there are six complete sub models, the instruction booklets still break smack-dab in the middle. Right, makes sense. Remember the old days when LEGO would make awesome displays of whole themes placed together on built landscapes, and then photograph the setups for promotional materials? Actually they still do for City, so that's something, but not for their 'big bang tons of tie-in merchandise' theme Legends of Chima. Instead, we get this supremely cruddy photoshop job of a few sets together. My favorite thing (besides for the magically reversed image of the Lair) is Grizzam (the white gorilla) now swinging off to nowhere. In my head he's saying "F*** this battle, I'm out of here." LEGO's 2D backdrop artists are doing a great job, though. STICKERS Since I bought this set on-the-cheap and will surely break it down for parts, I did not apply stickers. These stickers do actually look pretty cool, and I'm sure would work well in a variety of sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, or other type of grungy setting. I didn't think they'd make or break the look of the set; pretty sure I can give it a fair review without them. INTERESTING PARTS This set does include a fair number of rare, interesting, or otherwise useful parts (for anyone that doesn't exclusively build bright fairy princess castles with studs purely on top). I went through and picked these out based on a combination of personal preference and what I thought other people like. There are a ton of SNOT pieces and tiles, which are always great, as well as a bunch of varieties of slopes. The dark red is in there just because it's cool and I like it. All-in-all, even at full price this set makes a decent parts pack provided you like this type of part. MINIFIGURES Finally, my favorite section!!!!!!!!!1 Like I said in the intro, I do like the Chimafigs. They are absolutely covered in finely detailed prints which inevitably get covered up by other things, so first I'll look at them all decked-out before closing in on the details. These minifigs get some pretty cool weapons - did you know that the trans-red serrated thingies the wolves have only come in this set (in that color)? That's pretty cool! The gun build for Windra, the wolf matriarch, looks great and its main component is quite rare in flat silver to boot! The good guy weapons look great too. I should also mention that the white, jagged cape on the wovles only comes in two sets (and on the SDCC exclusive Collector minifig). For those that cared about collecting the minifigures or cared about the characters, this set was a great way to get most of the wolf tribe. From left to right, you get Worriz (the young leader or something), Wilhurt (the brute-force muscle-man?), Windra (exclusive to this set and the real brains behind the tribe?), and Wakz (the old wizened military commander?). I've added the fifth member, Winzar, on the far right. I happened to have him from a polybag. I do appreciate how much the members of the wolf tribe vary. They fit together, for sure, but they all have distinct differences in their prints down to things like different sizes of teeth on their 'face-helmets.' They're a fun, rugged bunch. Back to just the minifigs in this set… they all have cool back prints too, though I don't think the fur-and-tail detail on Wakz is very successful. The armor plating on Worriz looks simply wonderful, and so useful for castle/fantasy. The daggers on Windra stand out as a fun detail too, making her seem very dangerous. I like the Chima 'face-helmets' for what they are, but what I really love about the Chimafigures is their head-prints. I was so surprised when the theme launched that LEGO had gone all-out on the head prints when the figs were intended to wear their helmets, but I love it. You might not think it, but the more humanoid faces look fantastic in a variety of headgear like hoods, helmets, and the like. My lion-headed green spacemen always bring a smile to my face. I don't care for the bird ones, so Eris' head does nothing for me. Worriz also looks a bit… strange. The other wolves and Grizzam could be quite useful, though. Truly surprising was the fact that not only did the Chimafigs have head prints, most of them had two! You don't want to mess with these wolves when they're angry - they look liable to literally bite your head off. Grizzam looks more like you made a bad play-on-words pun. Eris I screwed up, and put her 'angry' face in the previous picture and her 'happy' face in this picture. If you can tell the difference between the two, you win eternal happiness. THE SET - By Parts Though the set artwork might lead you to believe that the set contains just two models (big truck and copter), the box assures you that it splits into five. I count six. … Obi-Wan: From a certain point of view. … In any case, I'll go through them now in build order before looking at the result of their combination. Athletic Wheelchairs The build starts weak with these two, er, things, that are supposed to evoke wolf paws but to me evoke athletic wheelchairs. No matter their name, they don't look good. Had these been packaged as a set on their own, I believe they would have joined the 'awful tiny set' ranks occupied by the Spider-Trike and Mandarin's Flame-Thrower Lawn-Mower. You will notice the pieces usually used to attach wheels sticking out conspicuously on the back. These hint at a play feature that actually works quite well and is really fun. Bottom line: even though these models tend toward the 'garbage' side of things, they turn out ok in the context of the larger set. Wolficopter After a poor first showing, the build progresses into one of the best models: the copter. The overall shaping looks nice, with a touch of wolf nose on the front. It's not intended to have its rotor folded down when not on the truck, so I had to prop it up with a wolfy friend. Though the set uses a very limited color palette of just light bley, dark bley, black, and dark red (with smatterings of white and red), it still comes off looking a bit jumbled and colorful. I get that LEGO doesn't go for monochrome much, and it might make a set harder to build for the childrens, but eliminating black or one of the bleys would make this thing look much sleeker. Regular red really comes off as unnecessary here against the dark red, and the model would look much better with only the darker shade. What really makes the copter is the fact that the rotor incorporates well folded up and unfolds wonderfully with quite an impressive wingspan. Plus, wolfy is no longer needed with the rotor unfolded - the redistributed weight keeps it from falling back. I guess it's worth noting that in fantasy Chima land there's no need for such physics-necessitated things as tail rotors. But really I don't mind. I'll admit I've been making you wait for it - what REALLY sells the copter is that the rotor spins really, really well. Maybe it's the excessive wingspan, the way it's attached, or something else, but whatever it is this things spins amazingly and is therefore a ton of fun. Truck Flying swiftly along, we come to the beginnings of a larger part of the model: namely, the Wolfy truck part. This isn't the sort of build I enjoy. There's a lot of Technic, a strange slidey mechanism locked down by Technic and SNOT stuff, and a general sense of 'where the hell is this thing going.' The end of booklet 2 (and bag 3) leaves me with this: I wrongly believed that those black Technic beams will become some sort of play feature. They won't. Next comes the head. As usual with Chima, the head displays the wonders of modern, imaginative LEGO set design. Also as usual, there's a crap-ton of parts crammed into a relatively small space that do nothing for the model but look nice. So far, this truck meets my 'bunch of technic with a part-eating head' expectations. As far as the build goes, the instructions next have you make the little side equipment compartments, and then you move on to the prison attachment. However, I photographed the truck with the Wheelchairs already attached to the front, since it really looks a bit terrible without them (yes, I actually did the set a favor). With the Wheelchairs attached, the Wolf Truck really looks quite nice and menacing. Mean-looking head, big rough wheels, some kind of attack paws in the front - nice. You would not want to have this beast coming at you, staring you down. It looks really menacing and ready to flatten you into a road-kill pancake (presuming you're an animal, since everybody is an animal in Chimaland). It also looks fairly decent when viewed from the side, though it becomes apparent that the truck is pickup-style, given that there's not much of anything besides the head. Still, it works. I like the use of the Chi crystals as a sort of super-charged jet exhaust. Even though the whole truck gives off a 'big n tough' vibe, which would usually make it seem not so fast, these engines get you thinking about this thing tearing up some pristine landscapes and leaving them in dire need of new vegetation. But now we come to some issues. Let me pose the question - what does one want out of a truck? I'd say two things: rolling well and space to put minifigures to engage in roll-play. The wolf tribe gets only this as their base, after all, so they better get some room to have tactical meetings and strategize their hits against the meddling Lions, Eagles, Gorillas, and whoever else. ALAS, this truck is just a bunch of gappy technic and other structural stuff. There's no real place to pose minifigs at all. I understand that the helicopter needs a place to rest here (which I will show later on the completed set), but couldn't LEGO have achieved both? Couldn't the designer have filled in some of these spaces with a few plates and added some consoles at which the wolves could work? As it is, Worriz might fall through the cracks and end up roadkill himself. Onto more lameness, we get these storage units on each side that look nice but have very little function. The one that's left empty can't fit any of the weapons included in this set, and the other one has two saws, which I suppose are meant to be repair tools? "Oh hey, the engine broke." "Eh, just give it the ol' saw." Right. Despite its flaws, the wolf truck still makes it into my good book due to its very awesome playfeature (and its general good looks, which I've already mentioned). Seriously, shooting off those wheelchairs and knocking over minifigures doesn't get old. Plus, unlike with most of LEGO's shooters, these projectiles won't be lost very easily since they're so large. This one's a winner. Prison Pod We get a significant down-grade in build size with the next section: this prison pod. The parts use here veers into 'extravagant' territory - it really has more tiles and detailing than a prison pod needs. All those tiles certainly make it look quite nice, but with respect to the set I think the parts could have been better used making the truck less gappy. From a parts pack perspective… whatever, I'll be grateful for the tiles. Unlike the near-useless storage containers on the truck, this prison has plenty of room to do what it needs to do - namely, house prisoners. I even managed to fit Eris in there. Overall - job well done on the prison, LEGO. Cycle What? - you say! Cycles have their wheels facing the same direction as the driver! - Aha! Fooled you again, did I. This cycle can both incorporate into the larger vehicle, and pop off, having its wheels rotate to turn it into a cycle! Vehicles that can fold and be functional always get me. That's part of why I love the copter in this set, and why I loved that Shield car set. For you see, the wheels fold out to make a functional cycle. Just position the gun out a little bit for balance, and it even rolls fairly well and stays standing due to the width of the heavy-duty wheels. Simply put, I dig the look of this thing all around. The asymmetry really works for it; even the side with the technic parts exposed looks alright and I appreciate the tiling. The gun might be ridiculously huge and impractical, but the whole thing is fantastical, so I don't mind. The gun being attached by ball-joint gives it a superb range of motion and makes for fun scenarios like this - 'Ha, thought I couldn't shoot you over there? Guess again!' WHOLE SET Now that I've gone through everything separately, it's time to click everything together and see how the thing stacks up as a huge 'Combat Lair,' whatever the heck that means. I must start off by saying that in person I really don't care for it. All together, it looks like a big bland jumble that's too large and ugly. Some of my photographs make it look much better than it is - looking over my Flickr set, even I kind of like it. But I'll start with a picture that illustrates what you'd be looking at in real life: See? It's quite large, but has no substance. The colors all blend together and almost negate any detail, making even the good sections fade away into the mass. The engines that look cool on the truck part now presumably spit Chi exhaust right on the prison, and there are no additional engines on the back since that's where the cycle goes. The copter just sits on the thing with no attachment points, and it doesn't really integrate into the model. It looks much better on its own. Take the copter off, and the issues become even more apparent. There's just no substance here at all: no place to pose figures, no place for our wolf friends to relax on their ride, no meeting center. What kind of a mobile base is this? LEGO got 'mobile' down, but it seems they forgot the 'base.' Here's my best attempt at getting some roleplay going. I'm really reaching here. I know what some readers may be thinking. Essentially it's a big truck for kids. Isn't it awesome enough that the set makes one huge truck and splits into a bunch of vehicles? Can't kids roleplay with the minifigures on the floor next to the truck anyway? What's CloneyO griping about? Let me explain. Firstly I'm griping about the plain fact that the huge combined vehicle looks ugly. It's drab, it's full of holes. I appreciate aesthetics and have a feel for how I'd relate to a set were I a child, and this set would turn me off. It doesn't scream 'fun and excitement.' Further, even as a child I liked sets that have some interior. I liked trucks, but I wanted to put minifigures in them. The City line has a new Mobile Police Center all the time, and the fun there is having a full truck that also has a fun interior. What I expected out of a big, mobile base was some interior, and that's not what I got here. I got the Chima design brief of awesome animal head attached to gap-filled nonsense. But hey, these low-angle pictures make the thing look pretty decent: CONCLUSION The above picture shows what I like about the set (minus Grizzam - I like him too). Buuuuut wait, isn't that everything in the set? Yes, yes it is. Everything separately has merit. The Wolf Truck looks beastly and has a super-awesome play feature in the launching of the front claw wheelchairs. The copter has a rotor that spins like ace. The prison does what you want a prison to do and gets covered in lovely tiles. The cycle has a wonderful folding feature and an overall fun design. I indeed went about slamming the set as a whole; as one huge vehicle, it's a mess, no way to sugar coat that in my eyes. The basic Chima design principle of 'all look and no substance' gets put on display here in full effect. What's more, the color scheme involves too many colors and still results in a set that's drab and ugly. Yet I like the different components on their own, and the minifigures are a cool bunch for both collectors and customizers. They have neat weapons to boot. Ultimately, I don't much care for this set, but I enjoyed the experience of thinking about it. Chima's over, dead and gone, but with sets like this I can't help feeling that LEGO brought Chima's less-than-Ninjago performance on itself with sets like this. I simply can't see how this set would really appeal to children, being drab and lacking interior as it does. For adults, it's a reasonable parts pack, but not much else.

Totally Awesome Atlas Troopers in depth review!

Hi, today I will make a review of a bootleg Hero Factory I buy at Thailand four months ago. The culture of bootlegging offical Lego sets are already been popular at Asia here since from 10-15 years ago. Some of members here say that the bootlegs are not as good as the offical sets, but some members say that bootlegs set can be as good as offical sets. So, is this set I brought can able to fight the quality of offical lego sets, or been terrible enough to put in the dustbin? Check this review and find the answer! The Packaging/ Instruction Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr The set itself is packaged similar to most of the Deluxe Class Transformers toys produced by Hasbro. I already throwed the plastic cover, so here we have the cardboard that complet the packaging of the set itself. As seen in this picture, the instruction is already printed on the cardboard. Honestly, the instruction on the cardboard is poorly maked and the steps are very confusing. So about the build, I will build the set using the parts available. Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr At the back here, you can see a simple ilustration of the whole collection of this line that also featuring a bootleg Surge 2.0, Evo 2.0, Breez 2.0, Furno 2.0, Stormer 2.0, and Nex 2.0 with the wrong colour scheme. The CGI effect is very poor, make the offical one looks like a masterpiece. The Parts Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr In this set, the figure is already builded and packaged in the packaging, but here's the parts that available in this set. Almost every parts at here are the same design with the real counterpart, so nothing special here. The parts also compatible with the offical Hero Factory sets, but the quality is not. Althrough the parts in this set didn't fall off when the set itself is complete, but the balljoints are very loose and has barely any friction. Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Different from their real counterpart, the 2.0 upper helmet and the 2.0 middle helmet part can be connected to a Glatorian head via a axle. Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Here's a picture of how the middle helmet part connected to the upper 2.0 helmet part. Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr However, this connection also cause a new problem. When the 2.0 helmet connected to the Glatorian head, the design of the Glatorian head stops the 2.0 helmet part from able to been push deeper and cause the eye of the Glatorian head appear below the eye hole of the 2.0 helmet. The Build As I say before, the instruction is very confusing and poorly maked. So, I will build this set according to the instruction of 2067 Evo 2.0. Here we start the build! Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr First, we build the torso, legs and arms. Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Then, we add the head and armor on legs and arms. Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr We add the head gear and the body chest, and after we insert the hero core, we get...... The Completed Set Front Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Here, we have Stormer 2.0 (Err, Bootleg Stormer 2.0) completed. He looks good and awesome...... Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr ...But the the back is not. Bootleg Stormer 2.0 here also suffer for a hollow back syndrome, similar to the real Stormer 2.0 and the hollow back is also easy to spot because of the colour of the body armor. Posability Who's there? Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Yes, they you are.Move the legs more and he will fall down. Victory! Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Be careful ! Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Bonus Images Here'sa image of this set when compared to 44019 Rocka Stealth Machine. Bootleg Stormer 2.0 Review by Armstrong X-Wing, on Flickr Final Comment Overall, this set is not a very good set. Sure this set has a bunch of recolours, but the quality of the parts and the posability of this set really cause this set receive a not so good rating from me. Sure you can get this set at Thailand, but seriously I don't recommend it. Colour Scheme - 6/10 Parts - 5/10 Design - 3/10 Posability - 4/10 Quality - 3/10 Overall - 21/50 Below Average More pictures available here (Once public): https://www.flickr.c...th/21347442395/ All comments are welcomed.

Hello everybody, this is my review of the new set Poe's X-Wing Fighter with BB-8 and three minifigures. A lot of images with details you can find right here. And I embedd the video-review - in german, but again with a lot of details. This is a really cool set, and: The cockpit is a print, not a sticker! If you have any qestions because of the video, please fell free to contact me at any time. Best wishes Anders

Review: 8515 RoboRider Wheels Item number: 8515 Pieces: 4 Original RRP (2000): $1.99 In the year 2000, Lego's RoboRiders line was teetering on its last legs, but it wasn't ready to drive over a cliff with a brick on the gas pedal just yet. Not only was the penultimate The Boss set released, but Lego also started producing these mixed packs of RoboRider wheels, much like what was done with Slizers and of course, Bionicle. Each little box contained four, randomly selected RoboRider wheels, in not only colours included in the sets, but also two exclusive colours; trans. orange and black. Box As you can see, my copy of the box is in very poor shape. This here was a recent eBay win - £1, with £3 p&p. I was quite chuffed with that bargain, as you can likely imagine. The front of the box has a cool graphic, featuring the RoboRiders logo imposed over a grey RoboRider wheel. The glowing details within the center of the wheel are really eye-catching. A small graphic clarifies that the box contains four wheels. The sides of the box show the eight characters that can be found on the wheels. I really love the art style to these guys - they remind me of chibis, or SD Gundam figures. It's also worth noting that a couple of them have Lego-inspired detailing, which is nice. Also worth noting is the coloured hoops around the characters - these represent the possible colours of wheels available in the box. This brings back some memories. The top of the box provides the URL to the RoboRiders website, which is of course no longer online. I believe there was an online game available on the site back in the day, which one could use codes gained from the RoboRiders toys with. And finally, the back of the box. I shan't show you the bottom, as it's just boring legal information. Anywho, the back of the box shows us all six of the canister-sized RoboRiders, and demonstrates the wheel firing function with the Power RoboRider. On the left is an illustration pertaining to the vicious ice region of the RoboRider world, and on the right is what I assume to be the scene of a volcanic eruption. These illustrations are a nice little bonus, and help to set the scene for the wild world of the RoboRiders. The back of the box opens up as such to reveal the inner contents. Originally, one punch out the perforated tab to open the rear flap, but I wanted to be a little more careful... And failed miserably at doing so. But anyway, as you can see, the box is more that spacious. I'd expect some form of literature, like a small poster of pamphlet, to fill up all the empty space. But, I guess the boxes were made bigger so as to fill up more shelf space and seem more prominent. Contents While the contents of each box is different, I though it'd still be fun to take a look inside. As promised by the box contains four individual wheels, randomly selected. I got the Laser character on a yellow wheel, the Fuel character on a grey wheel, and the Dynamite and Flame characters on trans. orange wheels. What's interesting - and exciting - is that, as I mentioned earlier, the trans. orange wheel colour never appeared outside of these wheel packs. Just for kicks, here's those trans. orange wheels on the Power RoboRider. Overall If you were a kid, teen or adult who had been collecting the RoboRiders back then, these were certainly a fantastic bonus item. Before these packs were released, I assume the only way one would complete a collection of RoboRider wheels would be to buy multiple copies of the sets, so it makes sense that the boxsets were produced. The inclusion of two exclusive colours to the mix is a fantastic bonus too, and I'm glad that I personally got a pair of trans. orange wheels. However, I feel that one thing that could've improved these things would be the inclusion of something other than the wheels. Maybe a head piece, or a wheel shooter, or maybe just a small poser or pamphlet. As it stands though, these little things are pretty nifty, but I wouldn't actively go hunting for them on eBay though - RoboRider wheels are very easy to find on Bricklink for very little money. But, if you do find one cheap, I say to bite - you never know what you might get!

REVIEW - 42054 - CLAAS XERION 5000 TRAC VC INTRODUCTION First of all my apologies. Sorry it took so long for this review to be published. Sometimes there are other things in life that need attention. Next year I will try to keep July free for LEGO reviews With all the news about the 42056 - Porsche GT3 RS and the 42055 - Bucket Wheel Excavator, you would almost forget there are two other great sets coming up during the second half of 2016. One of which is the 42053 - Volvo EW160E, while the other is the 42054 - Claas Xerion 5000 Trac VC. Today we will be reviewing the latter. Like LEGO it seems that CLAAS also likes its name spelled with capitals, so from now on I will happily oblige. While I live in an area which is flooded by tractors and farm equipment, the CLAAS doesn't seem to be very popular in Holland, while CLAAS is a brand which originated in Germany, not too far away. I have never been a real fan of LEGO Technic farm equipment models. To be honest; I have skipped all of them. They just didn't look interesting enough. How different the CLAAS is. I'll just throw it out there...this is love af first sight. Sometimes the real model looks even better than in the pictures. If this is the case with the CLAAS, it's definitely one of the best looking models ever made. Usually you don't draw conclusions in the introduction, but I simply felt the need to address the feeling that I have when I look at this model. CLAAS being one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) manufacturers of combine harvesters, we might be treated with another CLAAS model in the future. So, not having bought a single farm equipment set, combined with my limited knowledge of real farm equipment, I had to invest some time to get acquainted with the CLAAS XERION 5000 TRAC VC. In case you are wondering what VC stands for, it's the designation for Variable Cab, meaning the cab can be rotated backwards, to facilitate driving backwards....or is it forward?! At CLAAS, VC stands for Variable Cab. The rotating cab is the most convenient reverse-drive system imaginable. At the press of a button, the entire cab moves from its central position to the rear-facing position above the rear axle in seconds. The controls rotate automatically with the cab, so all functions remain the same when operating in the rear position. For high driving comfort on the road, the cab is centrally positioned between the axles. In the silage clamp, on the field, in the forest or in the mountains, the XERION with the cab rotated over the rear axle becomes a user-friendly self-propelled machine with a unique view of the job in hand. If you are looking for more information, here's the Brochure and Technical data. Funny fact about this set is that it's simply addressed as one of the 2H 2016 sets, while with almost 2000 parts, it would definitely have qualified as a flagship a couple of years ago. This is a clear indication that the Technic product line has been evolving rapidly. I start to wonder how big this model actually is. Let's open the box and find out. SET INFORMATION Number: 42054 Title: Claas Xerion 5000 Trac VC Theme: Technic Released: 2016 Part Count: 1977 Box Weight: 2834 gr Box Dimensions: 58,0 cm x 37,2 cm x 9,8 cm Set Price (MSRP): € 159 Price per Part: € 0,080 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX Having the Porsche and BWE around almost makes you forget that this isn't the Prima Donna of 2016. The box doesn't help either, since it's quite a big lady. A few years ago it could have easily passed as a flagship set. As usual, the front shows a nice picture of the model. The right side indicates that this is a PF powered set, where the M-motor and PF Battery Box are included. Bottom right tells us the crane arm and cabin are motorized. At this point it's not exactly clear what the motorization entails, but I bet the backside of the box will show us more details. BACK The back of the box (click to enlarge) shows us that the boom of the crane can be raised and lowered using Power Functions, as well as rotating the crane. Also, the cabin can be rotated using Power Functions, which is obviously super cool! I'm really anxious to find out how this works. The lower left corner shows us the three steering modes of the CLAAS XERION. Yes, you heard it right, three steering modes! Just like the Porsche should have had The lower right corner shows a picture of the B-model, which is actually the same tractor, with a different attachment. The crane has been transformed into a silage plow. As you can see, the cabin (and thus controls) are facing a different direction than in the picture of the A-model. Like the Unimog I expect lots of modifications and attachments for this model! CONTENTS OF THE BOX The box contains the following items: 1x Sealed instruction manual and sticker sheet 11x Bags for step 1 4x Bags for step 2 1x Unsealed PF battery box 1x Sealed PF M motor 4x Red rims 4x Awesome new tires This is how it looks when you throw everything on one big pile. INSTRUCTION MANUAL AND STICKERS The instructions are provided in a square bound book, sealed in a bag with the stickers. I really like this way of packing the manual and stickers. Keeps both the book and sticker sheet unharmed. Below are detailed pictures of the book and sticker sheet. The latter contains lots of little stickers for switches and controls. This means the model will have lots of functions....yay! PF COMPONENTS A PF Battery Box and a sealed PF M-motor. RIMS AND TIRES Without a doubt the single most eye-catching elements when opening the box are the new tires! 11 BAGS FOR STEP 1 4 BAGS FOR STEP 2 HIGHLIGHTED PARTS Back by popular demand is the Highlighted parts section. For this set it's quite elaborate. Not because it contains loads of new parts, but it does contain quite a few new-ish parts in large numbers. This indicates that the designer used some of the new building techniques in this set. And there's something funny going on with the axles, so let's start with those. AXLES Red and Yellow axles have been introduced in most of the 1H 2016 sets. What's striking though, is that this contains axles in both the regular black and grey color, as well as the latest yellow and red versions. Here you can see that we get both the grey and yellow 5L and 7L axles. I have included only a single grey version to make my point. Actually there are 11 yellow and 5 grey 5L axles and 6 yellow and 15 grey 7L axles. Same goes for the red 4L and 8L axles, which have a black counterpart (also a single one included in the picture). This set contains 9 red and 4 black 4L axles and 2 red and 2 black 8L axles. Makes sense, right?! At this point I am really starting to wonder what the strategy behind the axle color distribution is. Is TLG getting rid of their old stock or is there a better explanation? Hopefully we will discover some logic, but I highly doubt it. On the left you can see the new (2016) 3L Axle with Stop and on the right you see the 2012 4L Axle with Center Stop. Inclusion of the latter is not so special, if it weren't for the quantity. A total of 12 are included, which is more than in any other set. And even a single 11L axle in yellow, which completes the uneven yellow axle family (3L, 5L, 7L, 9L and 11L). Fun fact; the 3L axle in yellow has been introduced in 2015 (in the LEGO Ideas Wall-e set) and has been used in quite a few 2016 sets, but not in any of the Technic sets. Same goes for the 9L axle, which has been used in three non-Technic sets. Adds another layer to the axle mystery. Let's talk Pins and Pin Connectors. 3L PIN WITH 1L/2L AXLE This set includes 20 3L Pin with 2L Axle from 2015 and a whopping 31 3L Pin with 1L Axle from 2014. AXLE/PIN WITH PIN HOLE If you are in need of Pin with Pin Hole from 2014, look no further. This set contains 49 of 'em. Yes that's right, 49!! And 14 of its axle counterpart Axle with Pin Hole from 2016. AXLE AND PIN CONNECTOR HUB WITH 2 AXLES This set also comes with 12 Axle and Pin Connector Hub with 2 Axles. Already introduced in 2012, but relatively new in black. 1L PIN CONNECTOR Introduced in 2015, received with some surprise from the community. Why do we need this 1L Pin Connector?! Well, there's 54 in this set so we are bound to find out why it's useful. H-FRAME (DOG BONE) In my review of the 42023 Construction Crew (one of my two first reviews) I introduced this part. The Liftarm 3 X 5 Perpendicular H-Shape Thick a.k.a. Dog Bone Frame or H-Frame. A compact versatile frame which appeared in quite a few sets but never in such quantities. This set contains 10 of them. CURVED PANEL The 3 x 6 x 3 Curved Panel was already available in blue and yellow and now it's also available in black. You only get a single one in this set though. TURNTABLES This new turntable was introduced in 2015 and it's the first time it appears twice in a single set. It's comprised of two parts, The Top and The Base. STEERING WHEEL HUB Introduced in the Porsche (only because it was available first) and now also available in the CLAAS. Two of them in the Porsche but if you like to build 4W steering this is the set for you. It contains 4 Steering Wheel Hub Holder with 2 Pin Holes and 2 Axle Holes. LIME GREEN IS THE NEW YELLOW A reasonably large selection of lime green parts. Not sure if it's visible in this picture but apparently lime green is the new yellow, when it comes to parts being identically colored. Variation in lime green is significant. This picture shows a detailed view of the color difference. It's clearly visible near the 2x1 plate. The connectors and liftarm do differ as well. Good news is that there are some new parts available in lime green: 1x Panel Fairing # 5 Long Smooth, Side A 1x Panel Fairing # 6 Long Smooth, Side B 1x Panel Fairing # 1 Long Smooth, Side A 1x Panel Fairing # 2 Long Smooth, Side B 2x 16L Soft Axle (Flex Axle DISHES This 6x6 Inverted Rader Dish isn't new, but it's the first time we see it in red. This picture also shows the reflection of the light bounced off the ceiling. RIMS The rims are your run of the mill 56mm D. x 34mm Technic Racing Rims, with the unique feature that, like the 6x6 Inverted Dishes, these come in red for the first time. TIRES Four brand new 107 x 44R Tractor Tires! PART LIST Here's the complete list of 1977 parts. THE TRACTOR The build consists of two phases, the tractor and the crane. Obviously we will start with building the tractor. Get your #1 bags, rims, tires and PF components....we are about to begin! We start by building the chassis. The back side of the chassis to be specific. You can already see part of the steering mode selector mechanism taking shape. REAR MOUNT The manually operated rear mount which will later be used to attach the crane (or other attachments). Manual operations include raising and lowering the attachment. There's a PTO (Power take-off) which will be connected to the PF motor, so it's not operated manually. Here you can see the rear mount attached to the chassis. The bottom view shows the PTO drive shaft. STEERING Since this tractor has 4 wheel steering, the rear axle also needs to be steerable. To accomplish that, the new wheel hubs are used. No rack and pinion yet?! Or no rack and pinion at all?! I was wondering why the blue Axle Pin is used in favor of a Pin without friction. Normally my best guess is that these parts are used in the B-model, which isn't the case for this model. The only possible thing I can imagine is that the friction is needed to prevent wobbling, and the axle end makes sure the steering is smoothly. Best of both worlds kind of thing. The yellow 1/2 bush limits the steering angle. A limited steering angle is something that's bothering me frequently in Technic models. So I tried to remove the bushes and replace the 3L axles with 2L axles. This does improve the steering angle. However, as you can see in the pictures below, there's a reason the steering angle is limited. The left tire is touching the chassis. We will need to work with the default setup. Which actually isn't that bad in the end. The following picture clearly explains why we need red 4L axles, while there are also black 4L axles in this set. Or does it? Clearly no rack and pinion steering. Instead there's a cleaver mechanism transforming rotational movement into linear movement and back into rotational movement again. The linkage on the red axles can be moved into three different positions for the three different steering modes. Here's a short video demonstrating the mechanism: A manually operated lever on the back sets the linkage in one of three positions, selecting the steering mode. Stickers are used to indicate the different modes. Another short video of the steering mechanism: The pictures below show the different steering modes, respectively: Crab steering Front wheel steering Four wheel steering The video below shows a demonstration of the different steering modes: The bottom view of the chassis: The video below shows the bottom view of the steering mechanism: BARMAN Of course this mechanism is no surprise at all, since our good friend Barman already figured it out ages ago. Obviously a variation of the setup, but the basic are definitely the same. Well done Barman! PTO In the picture below you can clearly see that the PTO runs from the front to the back. Even though this model doesn't have a powered front attachment, it's prepared to have one. Kudos to the designer for this feature! GEARBOX This gearbox is used to power the different functions. As you can see there are two Clutch Gears. One is for the PTO and the other one is for the cab rotation. Here's how the gearbox will be attached to the chassis. Switching the change over catch results in changing direction of the function. This is confirmed by looking at the left side of the gearbox, the "differential like setup". MOTORIZATION A Power Functions M-motor is used to power all the functions. Since there's no driving or steering involved, the M-motor is just fine! CHASSIS Picture below shows the chassis without the battery box, but with both front and rear mounts Here you can see a video of how the battery box switch works. This is a rather ingenious mechanism. CONTROL PANEL In the images below you can see why we need 54 1L Connectors. They might not be necessary, but I do like 'em. They are aesthetically pleasing and avoids having gaps in the model. Otherwise bushes would be used, which definitely don't look as good as the 1L Connectors. Here's a detailed view of the control panel on the side of the vehicle. One switch will turn the battery box on and off, while the other rotates the cabin back and forth. Here's the control panel attached to the vehicle. This surely is one of the best looking control panels I have seen. HOOD The lime green hood, combined with the white roof and red rims, is one of the most recognizable sections of the CLAAS. Unlike other hoods this isn't just a couple of panels and done. It's actually quite a big build. The front of the hoods actually needs a CLAAS stickers, which I forgot before taking pictures. The hoods can be lifted and held up with a support axle. Usually you will see the fake engine, but now there's a battery box. To be clear; there's no fake engine at all. Which is perfectly fine given the fact that the battery box is well hidden inside the model. Closing the hood results in this pretty picture. I am already starting to like the looks of this model. The build also gets more interesting along the way. In the beginning there's much going on without really making sense. Seems like a bit here and a bit there. Some constructions seem rather flimsy. However, the further you progress, the better the builds get, to a point where it's actually a great building experience. CABIN Here you can see the base of the cabin, which actually has a nice feature. When the cabin rotates a little wheel underneath lifts the cabin a stud or two. This results in the cabin freely rotating around its axle. When it has turned 180 degrees, it falls in place again. Here you can see the up and down mode of the base of the cabin. The finished cabin looks stunning!! The back of the cabin has some intricate details, like the fire extinguisher and the 50 km/h sign. In the cabin there a computer display showing the field. I think you can even fit a minifig on the chair. Here's a sequence of images demonstrating the rotation of the cabin. You can clearly see the raising and lowering of the cabin when it rotates. FINISHED TRACTOR After finishing the cabin, you end stage 1 and the tractor is finished. I can only come to this conclusion: Yes, it looks great in real life too! And great is an understatement. This is one of the best looking Technic models ever! I wasn't a big fan of lime green, but it just went up a couple of notches on my ladder. Especially in combination with white and red! I can't think of a single thing I don't like about the tractor. Even the battery box is nicely hidden inside the model, while it still can be easily switched on and off. Cabin rotation is how it's supposed to be and there's a front and back PTO. Simply amazing! OOPS! I missed two of the headlights. Thanks to Charlesw for pointing this out THE CRANE After the 1st stage, you enter the 2nd stage...building the crane! I have included a picture of the crane on my work desktop, instead of my photography desktop. Looking at the pictures, it appears that I have no OCD when it comes to arranging parts before the build. On the left side of the crane (where I already applied the stickers) you can see the controls for the crane. Two levers, both with an up and down mode. One of them will rotate the crane, while the other will raise and lower the boom. For all you photography enthusiasts; these two pictures are taken with f14 instead of f20, resulting in a sharp picture but slightly blurred (out of focus) background. This draws attention to the model, while still being able to figure out what's going on in the background. I used to shoot everything with f20, which would have resulted in an entirely focused picture. Three more images of the base of the crane. This time without the unnecessary cluttering with extra parts. FINISHED CRANE Lo and behold, the crane! First of all, I am not the biggest fan of cranes. Why not? Because they have a tendency not to work properly, especially the Pneumatic ones (apologies to the Pneumatic fanboys). Therefor it's worth to mention that I actually like this one. A decent design with functions that actually work. Admittedly the manual functions are not that great and maybe a bit flimsy, but that will always be the case when building in this scale. Most important are the two motorized functions, which work like a charm. The mechanism to attach the crane to the tractor is nifty too, although it can be a bit of a struggle to attach it to the PTO. This takes some practice. FINISHED MODEL Meet the CLAAS XERION 5000 TRAC VC! I have said it before and I will say it again; this is one good looking model. The shapes, the design, combined with the CLAAS color scheme makes it really stand out. Admittedly, the crane doesn't improve the looks of the model. Being an attachment, I don't really mind. The nose of the CLAAS looks so cool. Especially with the weights on the front attachment and those new tires. I really love this picture. Another think I absolutely love is the cabin of the model. All kinds of small details and the overall look is stunning. The crane is....well.....a crane. It's not ugly, nor is it a beauty. Technically it's working properly, which is the most important thing. It does kind of bend over a bit, but it doesn't bend the chassis. It's caused by the way it's mounted to the rear attachment. Raising the attachment will straighten the crane a bit. The rear attachment is quite solid, which is good thing. The outriggers need to used for extra stability. This side view show what I mean by the crane leaning over. The rear view of the entire model. I love the fire extinguisher and the 50 km/h sign! Another front view of the model. LEFT OVER PARTS Quite a few 1L Connectors left. Makes you wonder whether I skipped a few. Or they are used in the B-model. FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS So the model looks good. Does it function properly?! And what exactly are the functions?! After the last building step, the manual shows four pages with functions! The first two pages concentrate on operating the crane and cabin, using the PF functions. The other two pages focus on the different steering modes. Let's take a look at the video to see these functions in action: The front attachment is manually operated and can be raised and lowered. Attaching to the chassis is easy, so it can be easily changed for another attachment. There's a front PTO, which leaves you with loads of options. I'm sure we will see some nice MODs being published in the future. Rotating the cab is quite fun to do. It works as expected and the automatic raising and lowering of the cabin adds coolness to the operation. Thumbs up for the rotating cab Then there's the three mode steering. Basically the steering modes work fine. The mechanism is very clever. So it all good? Well, there are some minor issues. Turning the steering gear needs quite a bit of force, which can result in accidentaly turning the cabin instead of steering. Another issue is the significant amount of slack in the steering mechanism. New wheel hubs were introduced this year, but they are no improvement in terms of slack. This model is best steering when driving it. This will reduce the amount of force on the steering linkage and it will also diminish the slack. All in all the steering modes work properly and the entire steering mechanism is awesome. This makes up for the lack of rear wheel steering in the Porsche! Like I said earlier; usually I am not a big fan of cranes. However, this one works properly. The motorized functions have been implemented very well. They are easy to operate, without confusion about which function does what. The manual functions work as expected, nothing special. I haven't paid much attention to the tires so far. I reckon they deserve a review of their own. Enough has been said about them already, so I will simply echo what other have been saying; they are awesome! Best tire since the Unimog tires. They have enough grip for Truck Trial. One thing I am not sure about though is how well they will stick to the rim. As you can see in the video, they detach pretty easily. Something which might happen when driving through rough terrain. I hope TLG will release a smaller version of these tires in the near future, for other tractors or even combine harvesters. Both the attachments can be mounted and dismounted easily and the mechanisms to do so are nifty. Attaching an axle to the PTO can be tricky, but it will get easier after some practice. B-MODEL When building the B-model the tractor remains intact. The crane turns into a silage plow, which actually looks quite good. I will leave this one for you to build SUMMARY To summarize how I feel about this set is pretty easy. I love it! This set has everything a proper Technic set should have. Stunning looks and lots of great functions. Not sure if this is the best Technic set ever, but it is the best Technic set I ever reviewed. PROS Looks amazing Lots of functions Super cool three mode steering Functions working properly Lots of playability Front and rear PTO Suitable for MODding Lots of new pins and connectors Cool new tires Some parts in new colors Battery box nicely tucked away inside the model CONS Slack in steering Steering needs some force and can result in turning the cabin instead Makes you want another one I'd like to stress that these cons are really minor cons! SCORE Okay, so how do I grade this set? 9 DESIGN CLAAS written all over it. Looks amazing. 9 BUILDING EXPERIENCE Starts a bit unstructured, but ends well. 10 FEATURES Can't do any better than this. 9 PLAYABILITY All the cool functions offer lots of playability 9 PARTS High quantities of new pins and connectors. Oh, and them tires! 9 VALUE FOR MONEY This is what to expect of a big Technic set. 9,2 PINNACLE OF LEGO TECHNIC FINAL WORDS This set will be modified heavily, utilizing the front and rear PTO. Can't wait to see what people come up with. It's only a matter of time before we see a double wheeled version: Well, that didn't take long (posted by ctx1769, see next page): And what to think of a potential new CLAAS Lexion Combine Harvester with new smaller versions of the CLAAS tires in the rear. Yes please! Thanks you for reading this review. All pictures can be found in my album.

It's 1964. Vietnam is starting. Martin Luther King receives the Nobel Peace Prize the year Nelson Mandela is jailed. Sony introduces the Video Cassette Recorder, and the computer mouse is invented. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor marry for the first time. The Beatles are riding high in international charts, but I want you to put I Get Around by the Beach Boys on your internal gramophone, grab your shorts and the keys to your Bug, and head on over to Californ-eye-ay coz' we are going surfin'! Apparently. The VW Beetle, or Volkswagen Type I, was already over 25 years old in 1964. It was conceived in Germany in 1938, but let's gloss over that part of its history; production didn't pick up until 1945. Over the car's 65 year production span, an astonishing 21 million were built; it is unsurprising therefore that the Beetle was named in 1999's Car of the Century competition as the fourth most influential car of the 20th century (after the Citroen DS? Really?) and that may explain its inclusion as the logical LEGO follow-up to 2014's 10242 Mini Cooper, which came second in that competition. Review: 10252 Volkswagen Beetle This is not The LEGO Co.'s first VW Beetle set. Believe it or not, it's not even the second - many of you will remember the largely studded 10187 from 2008. To find the first, we have to go all the way back to the first year of LEGO mass-produced toys - 1958 - when an ambiguously numbered die-cast metal 260 VW Beetle was available; several iterations of the Beetle featured in the early days of LEGO metal cars, including one from 1964, but I believe 10187 was the first to be built in LEGO bricks. This latest offering joins the Mini in the recently introduced LEGO Creator Expert range. It's a very different bucket of worms to the last Beetle, making use of curves and angles rather than its predecessor's studs-up sculpture, and ascends to the mainstream another peripheral colour: Dark Azure. Set Information Name: Volkswagen Beetle Number: 10252 Theme: CREATOR Expert Release: 2016 Parts: 1167 Figures: N/A Price: EUR €89.99 - 104.99 | GB £69.99 | US $99.99 | AU $149.99 | CA $129.99 | DKK 799.00 Links ... LEGO Shop ... Brickset ... Bricklink The Box Click for a larger full-frontal image The minimalist Creator Expert packaging shares more in common with the Exclusives sets than the main CREATOR range, but it's smart and allows the set picture to dominate. Here a surf-equipped Beetle drives itself (hilarity ensues) down a sandy track. The set manages to stand out even against the similarly-coloured sea; the choice of surf theme for the set really dictates the box art. I wonder whether the set's colour scheme was decided by the reference image, or whether the artist hunted around for a suitable image. If the latter, they found one, and it's displayed on the right hand side: Click for a larger image Judging by the roof rack, I think the set designer must have used this image for inspiration. It also affects the set's historical accuracy: the real-life Beetle here is a pre-1965 model, given the smaller window apertures. On the back of the box, the sentient car parks itself among the dunes, and leans its surfboard against a conveniently-placed inset of the set features: Click for a larger image I love that. The board even casts a shadow on the inset! The insets show off the set's salient features well, though the main image is rather similar to the box front and I would have shown the car's rear off here. The box measures H 279 x W 478 x D 72 mm (11" x 19" x 3" approx) and weighs 1352 g (3 lb). It is tape-sealed . On the underside is the Volkswagen licensing information, interestingly in the official VW typeface. As is customary for CREATOR sets, the set inventory is displayed on the box top. The Instructions Now, I was under the impression that The LEGO Company had listened to the whinges of its die-hard fan-base, and endeavoured to wrap the instructions and sticker sheets of the more expensive sets to prevent bad things happening. Not so here. My instructions were loose and crumpled in the box. I hope that is just because I have an early promotional copy of the set, and that this doesn't represent a policy change. The single, perfect-bound volume has a cover similar to the box front. There are no technical or historical tidbits, unlike the LEGO Ideas or Architecture sets; I'd like to have seen a bit of information about the Beetle, but not if it would inflate the price of the set. The instruction steps are clear, with part call-outs, and a handy yellow line to show you where new bits are added. This doesn't help when you miss an entire step, as I did! The only other problem I encountered was trying to identify the colour of a 1x1 round stud which looked either white or grey (but probably meant to be flat silver). Sticker Sheet Mercifully, my sticker sheet was only crumpled but not damaged by its journey loose in the box. There stickers are handily numbered, though not unfortunately in the order you apply them. There's a lot of redundancy here, so you can get away with applying as few as 12 of the 24 decals: stickers 13 - 16 are duplicated, and the instructions suggest only applying one of each. You can choose which country's registration to use, though I was delighted to find that there are tiles enough to allow you apply all of them, and change the registration plate to enable a James Bond escape or something. The countries represented are USA, Australia (I think, assuming 'QLD' is Queensland), the UK, and (West) Germany. The Parts The parts are divided into three modules, of 3, 2, and 3 polybags each, as shown here, and the tyres were loose in the box. My first task was to confirm the colour - having not read the official LEGO blurb, I did what I always do when confronted with an unfamiliar colour, which is compare it to a part in a known set. Most of our LEGO is packed away, but fortunately the kids came to the rescue. So Duplo confirms this blue is Dark Azure. The three modules' parts are laid out below. Click each frame for a close-up It's great to see such a large choice of parts in a relatively rare colour, previously found mostly on minifigs and Duplo, or, more recently, in Basic Bricks sets. Prior to this Beetle there were no plates available in Dark Azure. Whether this means there'll be an abundance of regular sets in this colour remains to be seen; I had high hopes for Bright Green after the CITY recycling sets a few years ago but nothing came of that. Unlike, say, Dark Green or Dark Red, I can't see that there'll be much demand for Dark Azure amongst MOCers, though it might make a nice base colour for a re-imagined Classic Space. Otherwise, there are a load of handy SNOT bricks and plates of various kinds, and a few parts of interest: The dark azure corner brick is a new part, ID 24599, and I think would be described as Brick, Round Corner 5x5. Its curvature matches that of the Brick, Modified 1 x 2 x 1 1/3 but it is only three plates high. The 24246 heel-print tile is new this year in a few Mixels sets, and only in white; 23443 bar holder with handle is new, and listed on Bricklink but not yet appearing in any sets. New to me are the 1 x 1 x 3 brick, though it's been around since 2014 and quite common, the Technic axle 3 yellow, and the Ring pull tile, which I can see being very useful. The Round 1x1 tile with gauge featured of course in the Mini and several other sets. The clippy plate is shown only because of the mold difference: both types occur in this set (or my copy, at least) - they are I believe Bricklink types b and d. Then of course there's the new VW print tile. The tile is light bluish grey with a slightly reflective 'negative' print; I would rather have seen a shiny VW 'positive' print on a darker tile, buy hey. There are two spares in this set and I can see these being useful for CITY cars. Finally, there's the vaunted 'updated windshield design': I didn't even notice this until I read the blurb when writing the review: hence the stickers are already on! The mold is a stud less deep, but still quite sturdy; this design would have been quite handy for the Mini whose older design windscreen is also shown here. The Build The build starts with the chassis and is largely pedestrian until towards the end of module one, where SNOT begins to be applied in more detail and things quite suddenly get exciting. In the interest of brevity, I will not describe the build process in detail here, but it is shown in detail on my flickr; I will instead show a few interesting techniques. This is the back end of the car, late in module 1: A large chunk of tan and bley plates and bricks has been inserted, studs facing to the rear, with male and female clips pointing upwards. It's not until module 3 that you find out what the clips are for - they attach the rear window and engine cover. Behind that, a light bley 2x2 SNOT plate tessellates perfectly with a dark bley 1x1 SNOT brick with two 1x1 bley plates: these hold the tail lights; this technique is used in a few places in the set. Interesting SNOT abounds (*thinks of children* ). Here the rear (centre) and front (right) seat uprights are made; the rear one makes use of a stack of headlight bricks alternating studs right/studs up to make a stud reverser that is exactly 3 plates wide; when combined with the left and right halves, this makes 20 plate-heights or exactly 8 brick widths - so the seat rear fits neatly in the gap. I'll remember that technique! The front seats use 1x1 bricks with studs on two sides; these seats are slightly wider than 4 bricks each as they don't need to fit into a confined space - see here (you can also see where I missed a step - the bley plates either side of the rear seat should be a brick higher ). The entire front end of the car is initially attached only via the front axle, and at a half-stud offset: This is then corrected with the judicious application of jumper plates. You'll be able to see more when we look at the underside later. More delightful SNOT-work builds the front wings, including a repeat of the tessellation I pointed out earlier: The small construction I have removed here contains a SNOT plate that is used to correct the sideways-facing studs shown in the picture. I love that sort of thing! You can also see how the headlights are attached, with a technique similar to the Mini's. You'll be able to see more when we come to the features, or check my flickr. The Finished Car I've chosen the German plates for my car, partly because it's a German car, and partly because I put the British number plate stickers on badly. Plus I built it left-hand drive before thinking about it (you can very easily convert it). It does also mean that I can point out The Significance Of The WOB. The bonnet boot luggage compartment cover (from now on, it's 'luggage cover' and 'engine cover', mkay?) has popped open in the above picture, which happens all too easily. Here it is from the reverse angle with the cover closed: The designer has gone to extraordinary lengths to recreate the challenging curves of this iconic vehicle. Look at the nearside headlight: below it is a SNOT-mounted 1x2 cheese wedge; above it a regularly-placed 1x1 cheese next to a 1x3 bow; the contour these form almost perfectly matches the curve of the new 5x5 cover piece forming the wing. The entire wing then marries reasonably neatly to the luggage cover, itself a two-part design attempting to recreate the curves of the real thing. Conscious as I am that the stuff on the roof distracts from the car itself, I removed it: You can see a bit more clearly how the wing curves of the 5x5 corner bricks matches the 1x1 modified bricks at medial ends of both front and rear wings. Strangely, without the roof stuff, the wheels and wings themselves start to look a little too chunky to my eye, but we'll do a formal comparison shortly. Note the use of the new bar with handle parts to mount the door mirrors. From this view, the problem with the car's windscreen is becoming increasingly apparent. There's something I just don't like about it, but it's hard to put my finger on what. Here's a comparison shot of a '64 Beetle: Image from photogallery.classiccars.com It's not a perfect comparator. The wings are indeed a little too chunky on the LEGO version, but that's not the problem with the screen; '64 Beetles had flat screens with an arch shape, which the dark bley tile above the screen fails to recreate convincingly. Let's look at it in more detail from the side: Image from lehnan.hol.es The rake of the windscreen is too steep. It's a small difference, and it ought to be subtle, but combined with the relative loss of curvature of the front end of the roof, it has a dramatic effect making the windscreen look more like a Citroen 2CV than a Beetle. However, aside from the chunky wings and steep windscreen, the overall shape is otherwise remarkably good. Let's move rearward, where things start to get better again. The wonderful curves continue towards the engine compartment: You can see how the tapered door pillar gives gradient to the side of the car, and the 4x4 corner slope helps to smooth the lines from the wider sides to the narrower rear. This part sits, incidentally, on one of these, which defines the slope of the rear window. The engine cover uses a SNOTty construction to achieve a half-plate step, giving the (faint) illusion of a lateral curve. The curves of the rear wings are a little fussier than the front ones, but they still create nice effect even if they are not quite as flared as the real thing: Image from foundonthestreet.net The LEGO version uses grille tiles to depict the iconic air-cooled engine intakes; the effect is not entirely successful, and I wonder if they might have been better off using these (or even these, if they were still available). I do like the rear lights; I'm tempted to replace the deeper of the two bley 1x1 plates under the amber light with a body-coloured one (there are spares in the set!). Front-on, the gap between the luggage cover and bodywork starts to show, but this is the only angle from which it's noticeable. The windscreen, again, looks odd, but the wing curves look great. The tyres are possibly a little too wide. This view isn't quite so forgiving of the rear, which looks better from oblique angles, but I still think the rear is the car's best side. Note the bumpers, made with modern curved pieces, with a hinge to help at the rear; they are nice (but they're crying out for some chrome). I'm conscious at this point that I'm being quite critical. Take a look at this shot from above: Look at the apex of the luggage cover at the front, and follow the ovoid line of the bodywork backwards, round to the side, and in again at the rear, and then back again; then look again at the curves of the wings, especially at the front; then compare to the schematic: It is a remarkable feat to get anything near to the shape of this delightfully contoured car in LEGO. And back down to earth, quite literally: The underside is remarkable for one point, which I alluded to earlier: the axles are not threaded through the chassis as you might expect, but attached almost independently until the structure is built around it. You can also see how the front end of the chassis sits at a half-stud offset, I think in order to accommodate the spare wheel. Features Now let's have a look in a bit more detail. We saw this earlier, but here's another look at the elaborate work going in to get the wings looking as smooth as possible. It's not the most elegant solution, perhaps, and not perfect, but reasonable. Behind the wheel you can see some studs facing outwards - these are from two inverted brackets that form the walls of the luggage compartment; the studs don't connect to anything. Talking of which ... ... here it is, and looking roomier than in real life. The black bit with the VW badge is the fuel tank. The spare wheel just sits there; it rattles around a bit. Being the same size as the Mini spare wheel, it's also too small when compared to the main tyres! Some fiddly jumper plates go to make the door attachment, but the result is smooth and surprisingly sturdy, if a little unsightly. The seat construction is gorgeous, and I like the telephone door handles. The gauge behind the steering wheel is the sole instrument on the dashboard. No radio? I've removed part of the roof to give a better view of the interior. Again, the seat construction is highly effective; it's not obvious here but they are mounted on jumpers to give a brick-wide gap between in which sits the handbrake. Towards the front is a gearstick, made simply from a classic space aerial, but which sits on a semicircular curved brick representing the transmission tunnel ... ... and which continues to the rear: Both front and rear seats flip forward; behind the rear seat is a luggage shelf - true to life - in which the Picnic Rug is stowed. Note further clever SNOT supporting the door pillars. I alluded to this earlier, but here is how the rear window and engine cover are fixed: The upward-pointing male clips hold the window; the two flat silver (these are the ones that caused me trouble in the build) 1x1 studs prevent the window collapsing in. It looks fiddly, but it comes together easily and is remarkably durable. And here's what's in the rear: This is a simple but reasonable facsimile of the VW aircooled engine of the original Beetle. It looks like it might be a rotary engine but it's actually a flat 4; the larger wheel looks like it might be the fan, but it's actually the fan pulley - the fan being in the round black thing behind. In case you wanted to know! I think the LEGO version works really well. Finally, there's the window-dressing: A cool-box containing two green bottles and a green can with a ring-pull top, nicely made with simple but clever SNOT, and a surfboard that looks a little thrown together - I think it would be possible to make it without the white protrusions at the tip and the tail, but it's a minor thing. You might also just be able to make out the lip of a white 1x1 tile in the exact centre of the board - why they didn't use a plate here, I don't know. It all fits snugly on the roof rack, the box via one stud, the board by being wedged between the edges and those black rubber cheating-pieces: Comparison to 10242 Mini Cooper I don't have the 2008 Beetle, and anyway this set's immediate ancestor (and main competitor) is 2014's Mini Cooper. How do they compare? Next to the clean Mini, the Beetle's lines do look a little fussy. The Mini also highlights another minor complaint about the Beetle - the lack of chrome (or metallic silver, at least); though I understand that the Beetle would require a lot of silver parts or it would appear mismatched. The front end of the Mini is so good that meaningful comparison is lost; the Beetle is, after all, a much more difficult shape to render in LEGO. This really isn't a fair comparison! Everything about that Mini is spot on - probably the only thing about it I would change is the tinted windows. So how do they sit together on the shelf? Pretty well, actually, though the scale is off, and the Mini is noticeably larger than it ought it be compared to the Beetle (I estimate it would need to be 3 studs narrower to be at the correct scale). But who cares about that when they look so good! If you had to choose, which would you buy? The Mini, despite slightly fewer pieces, is more expensive, though only just - this may be a licensing issue. The Beetle is a more interesting build, even if the end result isn't quite so good. Here is how I would sum up this comparison: people might say of the Beetle, 'Wow, that blue LEGO car looks like a Beetle!' But they would say of the Mini, 'you know, that Mini model is actually made of LEGO!' But is that a good thing? Maybe it's all down to the Battle of the Picnics: Conclusion This has been a really difficult set to review. Inspired in no small way by the joy that is the Mini, I was eagerly anticipating this set, and really wanted to love it. I like it, but do I love it? I'm not so sure. The parts selection is interesting and useful, and largely in an unusual colour. The build is fun and instructive. The way those curves are achieved is delightful ... but it's just not quite accurate enough. I've been spoiled by the Mini's near-perfection, and this is a much more difficult and less forgiving original, so it's understandable - but disappointing all the same. Design 7 It's just not quite a Beetle, though it's close. Parts 8 A useful selection and unusual colour. More chrome or silver would be welcome. And what's with the crumpled instructions, TLG? Build 9 Fun, engaging, and instructive. Features 7 Opening compartments, doors, folding seats, picnic stuff, but this is a display set, really, and the cool box and surfboard are actually a bit of a distraction. Give me chrome instead! Value 9 At under £70 this is really good value - in the UK, at least. Overall 80% My Score 7/10 Do I like it? Yes. Do I love it? No. Would I buy it (if I didn't already have it)? Oh yes. Do I want to see more classic vehicles? Absolutely. I just wish they'd tilted that windscreen ... Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the review. Comments welcome. Rufus Resources 1. VW Beetle on Wikipedia 2. VW air-cooled engine My flickr album

A Faithful Tribute This is a follow up to the very successful 5002812 – Classic Spaceman Minifigure from 2014 and 5003082 – Classic Pirate Minifigure from 2015. It was no surprised that LEGO was going to continue this rather special trend of celebrating classic themes through these exclusive promos. This set is a direct homage and tribute to 6012 - Siege Cart; a small impulse LEGO Castle set released exactly 30 years ago. Unintentionally this promo becomes even more special as it’s released a few weeks after the passing of Daniel August Krentz, a retired LEGO designer who worked at LEGO between mid-1970s until 2000. Daniel is known to many us as the designer of 375 – Castle. Packaging The primary aspect of the box design is very reminiscent of most of the boxes between 1960 – 1965; the white studs covering the entire box and the LEGO logo in the top left. The box doesn’t scream attention to the contents much like the current products do, instead they show a small and simple vignette of the set with an extract of the booklet included and the 2016 stamp. Other nice details of the packaging include the LEGO System logo from 1950s on three sides. To open the box, you have to slide open the drawer on the right hand side which contains the pieces and booklet. Not only does the contents of the product reflect the classic sets, it’s also presented through the packaging and experience as you open the box which is one of the many reasons why this series is clearly a success. These easily have the best packaging of any LEGO product alongside Architecture, LEGO Ideas and the two exclusive Technic sets (41999 & 42056.) Booklet The booklet starts off with the simple instructions to build the Minifigure and model. It follows up by documenting the classic LEGO Castle sets through a timeline starting with the origins leading up to 2016’s Nexo Knights. Which follows a similar pattern with the previous two promos in this series. With the future instalments I can only guess it will be a similar scenario by promoting a new theme / sub-theme that links back to a classic LEGO theme. Surprisingly this also comes with a sticker sheet / postcard; the stickers are images of Minifigures represented throughout the Castle themes as well as the two LEGO logos. On the reverse side it’s a typical postcard design with a ‘castle / knights’ twist! I wish it was just a postcard with an awesome print showcasing this set instead of the stickers which slightly decreases the exclusivity of this promo. Minifigure The Minifigure is a near replica of the official castle sets, the difference being the weapon of choice; the long axe is a rather odd choice, perhaps an alternative weapon such as a bow and quiver could have been included instead. The printing is fantastic, both on the torso and the shield. I really appreciate that the torso or printing wasn’t over done or didn’t represent the ‘classic’ torso. That’s was one aspect that took away from previous promo (5003082 - Classic Pirate Minifigure.) Model The only noticeable difference between this model and the one included with 6012 - Siege Cart is the use of brown slopes over plates for the front bow shape, my guess is they weren’t available in the 80s. Besides that, pretty much every detail and feature from the original model has been replicated into this model, including the shield attachment at the front! Much like the printing they’ve stayed faithful and not over done the details to bring the design into modern day. Final Analysis / Conclusion Comparing this promo to the previous two; it’s easily the superior of the three! Not only does it reflect and celebrate the classic castle theme it also gives a faithful reproduction to a classic set: 6012 - Siege Cart; rather than including a random assembly of parts as did ‘5003082 - Classic Pirate Minifigure from 2015. It’s a perfect example of what a faithful homage and promotional product should be! 9.5 / 10 In the memory of Daniel August Krentz (1937 – 2016.)

Rolling right out of a Danish plastic Chinese restaurant near you, it's… Set Name: Ecto-1 & 2 Set #: 75828 Theme: Ghostbusters (2016 Movie!) Pieces: ? Minifigures: 6 Year of Release: 2016 Price at Release: USD 60 Check out the Flickr set for more and bigger versions of all pictures! Stacking up as perhaps nobody's most anticipated IP ever (besides Angry Birds, right? Please?), the Ghostbusters 2016 reboot/make/run/thing movie has sure caused quite a firestorm way before almost anyone has seen the film. Guess what this review is NOT going to focus on? That. I've said it before and I'll say it again literally right now: sets to me stand on their own merit, not the merit of their IP. I've seen great sets based on of IPs that suck and terrible sets I'd never want based on IPs that love. So if anyone has any, errr, 'comments' about the film - howabout don't. This review is about the LEGO stuff. This set actually looked quite attractive to me for two reasons: cool car and so many cool female minifig heads and hairpieces. In this set that basically boils down to "everything" because there's nothing extraneous in this set. Sure, there's a motorbike, but who doesn't love ridiculously out-of-proportion motorbikes? Nobody, amiright? So, come with me as I see if this set, or at least those awesome-looking new hairpieces, live up to my expectations. (NOTE: This set was given to me as a gift at LEGO Fan Media Day in Billund, but the opinions are all my own and will not stem from the sense of giddiness I experienced being at LEGO Fan Media Day in Billund. At least, probably they won't. No complete guarantees.) INSTRUCTIONS (I ditched the box in Billund and my photos of it were a bit lousy, so I'm starting with the instructions.) The front art is nothing amazing, just some ghost-busting action and Chris Hemsworth looking like he may be about to ram into the car. His character is supposed to be a bit daft I guess. Though this instruction booklet is bound in 'normal-set' fashion as opposed to 'premium-badly-glued-original-Ghostbusters-set' fashion, it still contains several pages of movie/character info. Maybe to get you hyped for the movie because you're probably not? But that's none of my business. I'll spare you from all of the pages (check the Flickr set for the rest), but I found it interesting that the bad guy minifig in this set is apparently based on a green furry ghost. Does it look green and furry to you? Hmm.... I'm not complaining though since it's a cool figure with great parts. The actual instructions themselves are straightforward as always, and set on a serviceable plain black background. PARTS and BUILD In this section I'll go through the four bags bag by bag, pointing out any cool parts and anything particularly interesting I noted in the build. Since this is a review and not a True Build Experience ™ I'll just say now that the build of this feels much more like that of an adult/high end set than that of a kid-oriented set - tons of SNOT, sub assemblies, little bits, great color detail, etc. Really quite a pleasurable experience watching the car come together. Bag 1 The first bag provides the most drab parts selection and also the most samey, as it has you build literally four of the exact same thing (proton pack). Nonetheless, we get straight to some minifigure goodies, so that's cool. The ingot piece new in black stands out to me as the most pleasantly surprising re-color, but some other parts are quite cool too like the trans-clear stud-with-bar piece, recolored skellie parts, apollo stud, and that SNOT piece (which maybe has been around, but I wasn't familiar with having droves of them). I included the 3L bar just because it's still a bit more rare to get. Finally, the printed boat-bottom pieces (four in total) have quite a nice print that I could see being used outside of this particular context. Bag 1 builds Kristen Wiig, Chris Hemsworth, the Ecto-2 bike, four proton packs, two containment units, and the skellie/ghost/Mayhem thingy. Fear not, I'll be taking a closer look at everything further on in this review. Bag 2 Things get a bit more colorful immediately with Bag 2, though not necessarily more interesting. Tons of brown jumper plates must jump out at you though. Two printed license plates may be cool, but most exciting are the trans-clear headlight bricks, which are still rather rare (they come in 12 other sets according to Bricklink, but really 10 since two of those are rare non-regular-retail sets). By step 25 you'll just have a build a blob the beginning of the seating area. There's something I find very pleasing about putting down tons os jumper plates. No idea why, though I get the same sensation with total tileage. Another SNOT-y blob thing for the front end of the car at step 43. Kudos to the designer for this clever headlight assembly utilizing headlight bricks plugged-in sideways to headlight bricks. (Step 53.) By the end of Bag 2 (step 55), the lumps of LEGO almost start to resemble a car. Bag 3 Bag 3 moves us into the color palette that you'll actually see when all is said and built. Also, cool new hairpiece alert. Those small wedge plates are still pretty new, so they're welcome. Despite this set having some stickers, all the curved slopes on the side of the car are prints! Woohoo! Thank you LEGO Overlords! All the comfy leather seating gets installed by step 70, but the back of the hearse still looks a bit bare. By step 107, it just lacks wheels and a roof (not like cars really need either of those things, though. Right? I'm no automotive expert). Bag 4 Now we get into more bits and bobs, since all of the 'equipment' on the roof of the car gets constructed from bits and bobs. I was surprised by the jail cell bars and door, but I admit I had not looked at pictures of the set too closely. Not a ton of interesting parts here, though I always like trans-tiles and that particular wheel piece is still pretty rare in white. Also, the toolbox piece looks pretty in dark blue. At step 110 we've got wheels and axles, but the hearse is still going topless. Et voila, step 139 finishes it up. Spares One of the perks of a set that includes a lot of small parts is that it will have a lot of spares. In this case, extra skellie parts and an extra one of those trans-clear stud-with-bar parts! Woohoo! Thought I might as well try and whip up some homemade accessories, what with all of the minifigure-related parts on offer. It was a quick and dirty attempt. MINIFIGURES Like I said way up in the intro (which even I can barely remember by this point), the minifigures are a significant draw of this set, and boy do they deliver. Or maybe girl do they deliver. They're all terrifically detailed, and even if you don't care for the uniforms everything besides the torsos can be useful for minifig customs. Really I've got nothing but praise for these - the care that went into designing them is quite evident, and three new hairpieces plus amazing new heads are beyond wonderful. All five humans get alternate expressions. Luckily Chris Hemsworth getting possessed isn't a spoiler, since it happens in one of the (really awesome?) trailers. I especially like the 'blehh??' face on Kristen Wiig's minifigure and the goggles face on Holtzmann. Everybody gets subtly different back printing too, which successfully conveys different body types. Really well done. Super-cool details on the bad guy's wings too. Closer look at those two glorious new hairpieces and one cool but not as wow new hairpiece. It's great to have a new fairly-African-descent specific hairpiece, and I love the eccentricity of the middle one. See more closeup angle here, here, and here. The use of parts for the bad guy thing made me think that it's some type of evil soul version of the collectible minifigure gargoyle. They look cool together. MINIFIGURES - with Accessories Most of the accessories are brickbuilt, and look pretty cool. I like the canister builds, though it's a bit awkward that they don't fit straight down in a minifigure's hand since they're so tall. Holtzmann's gun also is a bit weak of a build, honestly. Everything else is good. The proton packs look pretty good from all angles, and by my estimation are as small as they could possibly be. I love that each one uses two black ingots because... black ingots! The minifigures do have to bend forward a little to stand without falling over, and holding an accessory helps for counterbalance. Still, quite nicely done. Having to bend a bit at the waist works just fine for the classic Ghostbusting pose! ECTO-2 I do love the old-school motorcycle mould, but adding builds to it just accentuates how ridiculously large it is compared to minifigures. It's like the size of a horse! In any case, it looks simple but cool. Through the magic of perspective, somehow the bike looks reasonable once you put the minifigure on top. That's the human brain for you. ECTO-1 Finally here, the meat of the set. I took a crap ton of pictures, so this will be just a key selection. I hate gushing about a set, and I feel like 99% of what I've said thus far has been positive, but… this car is really lovely people. It isn't huge but it feels substantial, and from all front angles just feels right. Clean, streamlined, well done. Of course it is a bit huge compared directly to minifigures, but as a model it feels like a good size. LEGO models do skew 'larger than life' in general, especially because minifigure proportions are so strange. One small issue that muddles the appearance just a little is that the printing on the side curved slopes is not quite accurate enough, so they don't line up into clean lines. The two sides are pretty similar, besides for the one having a ladder, which accurately matches the source material. Overall, despite the printing issue, still looking quite good. The top has a bunch of cool little builds, one of which includes a white fez which I neglected to mention in my parts breakdowns. Who knows what any of these things should represent, but I think that applies to the source material as well. It's got a nice mishmash variety. Of course the top can be removed, providing access to the interior that manages to have plenty of space for four minifigures and still have details like a break or gear stick, steering wheel, and nicely stickered dashboard. Especially compared to the original Ecto-1 set, which could not fit all four, this is wonderful. Also note that the doors open, though you really need to remove the roof to get the minifigures in and out. I've been saving discussing the back for last, since the back is actually one of the most awkward sections. From a straight-on angle (which I have), it doesn't look too bad, but usually you'd be looking at it beneath you and from that sort of angle the transition from a 6/8-wide car to rear lights and a 4-wide door just looks a bit strange. Not terrible, but the shaping definitely falls down here somewhat. Another slightly awkward or less than stellar aspect of it is that the back can barely fit one proton pack, meaning that if you have all four ladies in the car, you'll have to just dump their packs somewhere else. On the plus side, you can fit all of the other accessories! ....or possessed Kevin. Kevin gets his revenge for being treated this way by absconding with some of his other wavy-haired friends. But then he probably feels bad and returns to his Ghostbusting duties. CONCLUSION Like what you see? I certainly do. There are a couple minor flaws in this set, like the printing on the slopes not being aligned well enough and the back being a little strange, but all in all it's a lovely model that fun to roll around and put minifigures into. It comes with amazing minifigures with amazing new minifigure parts and prints. It packs a lot of exciting an/or rare and/or new parts, should you happen to want it for parts. It even seems roughly worth it's (US) value, which I don't think you'll have heard this review say for quite some time. Even if you don't care for the source material, it's a splendid car design in its own right, and I think anybody could get something out of this set. Unless of course you hate the IP with such passion that you wouldn't touch anything related to it with a three meter pole. If that's the case.... maybe you need to cheer up.

Time to power up to 1.21 gigawatts, hit that 88mph mark and lets go Back to the Future! Far out man. The official LEGO set blurb from the Shop@Home website says: Now on to the review. The box, like all the other dimensions sets, is more of a swing tag carton kind of thing. The level packs have an extra fold of cardboard on the front that creates a tab to add a little extra front space. This advertises the fact that the Level Pack unlocks a whole new game level. Displayed quite nicely are the character and the two vehicles, both iconic to Back to the Future. The side graphic, the trapezoid design of the carton makes the sides pretty hard to capture well on camera, the angle causes all sorts of issues! Though the unusual shape makes it stand out on the rails in shops. Here, like all the other boxes, there is a picture of the character with some action going on. The back of the box show cases the three in one nature of the vehicles. A little picture of each "mode" and an in-game shot of them in action. We also get the Dimensions graphic and the regular blurb and ratings information that is legally required. Inside the box are two polybags and the most pointless instruction manual you ever did see. The booklet only shows you how to build your minifigure and then directs you on to the game. Of course, this is part of the nature, the point, of LEGO Dimensions. Building real LEGO that then plays onscreen is what sets the game apart from other toy/gaming products. This does make it a little frustrating if you see the mini set and characters as display pieces and a nice gift for a Back to the Future fan. Though it is not impossible to track down the instructions online. Marty We've got the many layers that makes a Marty outift and the nifty printed game tag. I love the use of the Back to the Future font for his name. This is the same figure as the one that appeared in 21103 The DeLorian Time Machine, now with the guitar, unprinted. It is listed as a new part in Bricklink, but it looks a little like a number of other guitars that have appeared in varied printed designs. A decent way for a collector to pick up a Marty figure if they missed the limited set. Though, like all Dimensions, pricey from a purely bricks point of view. Here from the official LEGO Dimensions youtube channel: The character video for Marty. DeLorean Time Machine This one has a snazzy mini-kit style design with moving gull-wing doors. A very clever use of parts and great for display. Electric Time Machine The Electric Time Machine, it's electric! With the usual re-jigging of parts used to make the original flavour time machine, this one is a lot more sparkly with the trans-lite-blue parts. Like in a lot of LEGO games, lightning/electrical powers are needed to neutralise or power-up obstacles and puzzles in game. Ultimate Time Machine The Ultimate Time Machine: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads! The flying DeLorean (and many other flying cars) are the second most desired dohicky that featured in the far off year of 2015 in Back to the Future part Two. Again, kudos to the designers for making such a tidy little model using all the parts in two other builds. A neat looking car, matching the look from the movie at this scale. It is honestly competing with the original flavour DeLorean Time Machine for the spot of display vehicle. Hoverboard It is 2016, we have a hoverboard. Okay, so it is a LEGO one and it only hovers if we swoosh, but still. Hoverboard! The most desirable part being the actual hoverboard piece. The correct shape, colour and print (barring the rival toymaker's logo!) this was what was sorely missing from the original minifig scaled DeLorean set. Of course, it has a lot of extra "goings on" to fulfil the three vehicle mode requirement. They aren't too bad in this "mode" but still a little odd considering the sleek appearance of an "actual" hoverboard in the film. Ultimate Hover Jet - Now this one is the nicer of the designs if you're planning on keeping the hoveboard with all the extras. Though it looks like this is a board tooled up for a trans-atlantic flight instead of future style skateboard shenanigans. The Cyclone board for whirl-ey cyclone-ey powerups. This design is one of the more odd. I also feel like the clip arm should be holding something, so kept on searching in case there was something missing! Well, again a great set for the big Back to the Future fan in your life. Everyone loves a LEGO figure of a character they like and the mini-kit style DeLorean is an excellent design with two equally great alternates to build. A printed hoverboard is great fun for collectors and fans alike. Game wise, it is more of the same for a LEGO Game. With the gimmicks brought in by Dimensions and the game pad. Thanks to TLG and Eurobricks for providing me these sets to play with! Sorry it takes so long for me to play them!