Review: 9675 Sebulba’s Podracer & Tatooine
The second offering in the Series 1 Planet Sets re-hashes a previously released mini and takes us on a trip to possibly the most iconic planet in the Star Wars series, but is it a trip worth taking?
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Ken "buriedbybricks" Robichaud | May 22nd, 2012 | LEGO Star Wars, Reviews
Casey "cas" Scott | May 19th, 2012 | LEGO Star Wars, Reviews
Review: 10225 R2-D2
It’s been a long time since the LEGO Star Wars line last saw a sculptural set. It was 2002 when 7194 Yoda was new on store shelves. Yoda, along with 10018 Darth Maul, must’ve not been hits since nothing followed, unless you count 10186 General Grievous. I don’t, since it’s a fundamentally different type of set, more closely related to the Star Wars Technic figures. So, if it’s been so many years since Yoda, was the [non-existent] wait for 10225 R2-D2 worth the it? (more…)
Casey "cas" Scott | May 18th, 2012 | LEGO Lord of the Rings, Reviews
Review: 9473 The Mines of Moria
In the film, The Fellowship of the Ring, the Moria is portrayed as big place. When the LEGO The Lord of the Rings set names were revealed, “The Mines of Moria” could have meant anything. For a single set there’s so much to choose from. An entire wave of sets could conceivably be based on the place. Naturally, I was intrigued and decided that even if I didn’t collect the entire line, 9473 The Mines of Moria was a set I was going to pick up. Now that time has come to pass and for a set that could have been so much, it’s hard to believe it’s so little. (more…)
Casey "cas" Scott | May 14th, 2012 | LEGO Lord of the Rings, Reviews
Review: 9469 Gandalf Arrives
Here we are in 2012 and we’re finally getting The Lord of the Ring LEGO sets. Can you imagine if these had been timely? We’d have yellow-headed Gandalfs, Aragorns, and Frodos. But they weren’t and we don’t and thanks to the upcoming The Hobbit film (Part 1, no less), LEGO fans and LotR fans can rejoice. We finally have our favorite characters immortalized in high-quality ABS plastic. So, what a better place to begin our not-so-new journey back into Middle Earth than with 9469 Gandalf Arrives, based on one of the earliest scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring, in which Gandalf arrives. (more…)
Review: 6869 Quinjet Aerial Battle
Every once and a while, there comes a LEGO set I can’t put down. There is something about it that feels right, whether in the way it looks or its substance. I get this feeling that reminds me of that day in May way back in 1999 when I opened my first LEGO Star Wars set, the X-wing. As I built it, I knew it was something special, and once it was complete, I thought I’d never take it apart. It deserved to stay together because those pieces came together into something that worked. 6869 Quinjet Aerial Battle is a set that awakens those feelings of nostalgia and memories of a simpler, less cynical time. It’s a set that captures something that’s been missing from so many sets in recent years. (more…)
Ken "buriedbybricks" Robichaud | May 7th, 2012 | LEGO Star Wars, Reviews
Review: 9674 Naboo Starfighter & Naboo
LEGO’s latest offering on the lower end of the pricing scale seemed to produce some strong feelings from folks on either side of the fence. From what I’ve personally seen they seem to be selling quite well so perhaps they’re the kind of sets that appeal to the youthful target demographic only. Does the unholy marriage of a Star Wars themed X-Pod with a minifigure thrown in for good measure work and if so, who is it really aimed at?
Nick "dWhisper" Martin | May 7th, 2012 | LEGO Star Wars, Reviews
Review: 9494 Anakin’s Jedi Interceptor
I’m not sure which ship can really claim the crown of most rehashes, but one just sort of assumes it’s either the Jedi Starfighter or the Jedi Interceptor (Eta-2, something I know thanks to the now deceased Star Wars Galaxies). Yes, I know a few seconds on Brickset could tell me that the JSF has had six (really, six?) and the JSI has only had four-ish (the Yellow Anakin’s Starfighter was released twice), but that’s not really as much fun.
This is the first of the Eta-2 ships we’ve seen since 2007, when the Blue version was released with the Hyperdrive ring. Before that, in 2005, we had the Anakin’s yellow ship (torn apart by buzzer droids at the start of RotS), which was also available in 7283 – Ultimate Space Battle, the only set to feature Obi-Wans version in red. And while I’d love to do a comparison… I never purchased 7283, and the rest of mine are all packed up in the midst of the baby-prep, so we’re handling this one alone.
I’ve got a soft-spot for simple starfighter sets like these, because I think starfighters (OT and PT) are the best sort of “toy” that gets released in the Star Wars line. They’re a simple little ship that’s always a semi-challenging build, and usually look pretty nice sitting on a shelf, or better getting swooshed around. So how does this one stack up to the plethora of JSFs we’ve seen lately, and even the older interceptors?
Review: The Avengers
Marvel has been building up to this point since Nick Fury made his first appearance at the end of Iron Man in 2008. There have been ups and downs in the outings of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, but for the most part they’ve been strong offerings with any blemishes (I’m looking at you Iron Man 2) being forgivable when you look at the the franchise as a whole. To say I’ve been excited about this movie would be an understatement, but even more than the characters individual films this one has a lot to prove. So does it live up to the hype, the legacy and this long time comic fans expectations? The short answer is…
Review: 9484 Red’s Water Rescue
Red’s Water Rescue is one of the “small” sets from the Car’s line, this one featuring a minor character from Cars and Cars 2 (Red), and a character so minor in Cars 2 that even LEGO barely mentioned him in the blurb for the set. Okay, it could be that I just sort of blocked almost everything about that movie out of my mind. It was a curious thing… if it had any name other than Pixar attached to it, the thing would have just been a mindless summer movie for kids.
But Pixar puts a certain expectation in your mind that it’s going to be awesome. Toy Story managed to be awesome three different times. Up and Wall-E can be counted among the best films ever; not just one of the best animated films… but films in general. And while Cars can be considered one of the weaker films in the lineup, it was still genuinely good, even if formulaic. Cars 2, not so much. And that leaves us with a quandry in this little $20 set? Is it more like Cars, where we first saw Red, or like Cars 2, where we were given Acer and two hours of Mater?
Review: 30160 Batman Jetski
Oh Toys R Us and their exclusives…
30160 Batman Jetski is the first of what will hopefully be many Super Heroes polybags. The best parts of the DC and Marvel lines are the minifigures, so a cheap way to get them is always welcomed. It’s not as cheap as it could be, thanks to Toys R Us, but it’s a start.
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