(Singing) On cycle thirteen of Life Day my first mate gave to me, a disco crazy clanker,
a snazzy little space crane,
a Volkswalker Beetle,
a cranky Xerox copy,
another grey triangle,
a case of Déjà vu,
three teeny blasters,
an angry Steward of Endor,
a pair of ruby slippers,
a bounty hunter’s hot rod,
a break-dancing pilot,
an impractical escape ship
and a dancing droid beneath the Life Tree. (/Singing)
What hasn’t been said about Battle Droids? 2011 brought us a pilot, 2012 gave us security and this year, he likes to dance.
I think we all know where he’s heading for the holidays.
Wait, the title of this article doesn’t give away my conclusion, does it? Because I enjoy a good setup. So maybe just try to ignore what I wrote there and read everything. Of course, I actually have to issue an official retraction for a comment I made on the forum when these sets were first leaked…
Based on the price conversion and random guessing, prices would look to be $25 (perhaps $30)… no way it would be $20 for Ambush, $40 for Mirkwood (though I could see this being $50 and replacing Attack of the Wargs in the lineup), and the Fortress is likely replacing Goblin King Battle at $100. No way it’s in the $50 range.
Turns out, Ambush is $20, Mirkwood is only $30, and Fortress was only $70. Given the recent trends in Lego prices being somewhere between “are you kidding” and “those greedy *bleeps*,” it seems like something is up here. I mean, this set is basically a $30 battle pack with six figures, five of them being generic and the kind of things you want a whole bunch of. What is this, opposite world?
The second movie just came out, and to be honest, I have no idea if this scene is in it, in the extended edition release that’s going to trick us out of $20 next year, or in the third movie that we haven’t even been disappointed in yet. But on the Lego front, there’s a whole lot to love in this wave of sets. After some shaky initial releases, it looks like both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings sets are hitting their stride. Anyway, let’s see how much value can be pulled out of your $30.
The good news: Walmart is applying a discount on all of the The Desolation of Smaug LEGO sets as high as 24% off. The bad news: all but one of the sets are unavailable for delivery, meaning you’ll have to order online and go to your local store to pick up.
Other good news: LEGO Shop@Home has all of the Smaug sets in stock AND you’ll get a free Hobbit poster with any purchase. Other bad news: no discount.
(Singing) On cycle twelve of Life Day my first mate gave to me, a snazzy little space crane,
a Volkswalker Beetle,
a cranky Xerox copy,
another grey triangle,
a case of Déjà vu,
three teeny blasters,
an angry Steward of Endor,
a pair of ruby slippers,
a bounty hunter’s hot rod,
a break-dancing pilot,
an impractical escape ship
and a dancing droid beneath the Life Tree. (/Singing)
Overall, this is a very good approximation at this scale. I would’ve liked the blue to have been carried up into the cockpit area and had that be a little less jarringly pointed, but once you realise you can now pick up yesterday’s AT-TE and swoosh it around it becomes difficult to be too critical. I might add some levers under the wings to reach down and lock onto the AT-TE, though.
Now that growth on our beetle buddy’s back makes more sense, doesn’t it?
FBTB fan Nuri sent in the above pic of his receipt and loot for the day: 70611 Batman: Man-Bat attack. It was purchased at a Toys’R'Us store in the Los Angeles area. Asking price was $24.99 before any tax. Given the TRU tax, I imagine MSRP for this set would be $19.99. FBTB has already reviewed this set and if you’re still looking for a gift to put under the tree, you really can’t go wrong with this set. 76011 Batman: Man-Bat attack comes with Batman, Man-Bat, and Nightwing along with the Batcopter and a jet pack for hours of fun.
Clavius from our forums is reporting finding a new Hobbit Desolation of Smaug polybag: 30216 Lake-town Guard. He found it north of the border at a Toys’R'Us store in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. ‘Twould make a good stocking stuffer if you happen to find them. No idea if they’re available stateside yet, but given the time it takes for other polybags spotted in Canada first to make it south to the US, I wouldn’t count on seeing it before Christmas. I would LOVE to be wrong about that though.
A few builders cutting it close tonight, but no problems with everyone reporting in by the deadline. Below you’ll find links to the eight polls this round. As usual you have two days so go ahead and log in to cast your votes by Friday night.
(Singing) On cycle eleven of Life Day my first mate gave to me, a Volkswalker Beetle,
a cranky Xerox copy,
another grey triangle,
a case of Déjà vu,
three teeny blasters,
an angry Steward of Endor,
a pair of ruby slippers,
a bounty hunter’s hot rod,
a break-dancing pilot,
an impractical escape ship
and a dancing droid beneath the Life Tree. (/Singing)
Some models are just plain adorable. Is this little guy one of them? Yes. Yes he is. The leg solution is clever, the cockpit works well and it has the big gun needed to live up to title “Enforcer”. I’m not sure why it has so much junk in the trunk or on the roof or whatever, but overall I still think it works.
You know, I bet this little guy is exactly what the doctor ordered to turn that grumpy clones frown upside down. Let’s see.
Just under twenty two hours remain in the sweet sixteen round of the tournament, and so far only six ships have surfaced. Seems like tomorrow is going to be a busy day polishing off those builds and getting them submitted. Friendly reminder that the deadline remains at 8PM PST Wednesday December 11th. The good news is with fewer contestants remaining the polls won’t take so much time to set up, so, stay tuned for tomorrow night as the rest of the builders report in.
MAOS returns this week and it’s bringing back an old friend for backup. Spoilers! It’s Mike Peterson. Executive producer Jeffrey Bell had this to say about the shows build up to this point and how the second half of the season will have a more “Marvel” feel:
“I don’t think we should be led by fans, I think we should have fans follow. People saying, ‘faster, more, faster, more’ — you can never go faster, and you can never give them enough. You have to trust the stories that you’re wanting to tell, have a plan, and hopefully at the end people will go, “Oh, they knew what they were doing, that was cool, I didn’t see that coming, that was really satisfying.” That’s our goal. And we’ll find out! But we think we have cool stuff planned, and from 10 on out, we’re starting to turn over cards. If you think of 22 episodes as a movie, we’re at the one-hour mark in the movie. Things are picking up. We’re still building towards the climax before we get to falling action, but you’ve set the table for what’s going to happen.”
I’ll just be over in the ‘Waiting for the Payoff’ section.
