For The Distinguished Lego Batman Collector: 76052 Classic TV Series Batcave Review

Welcome to my new feature, For The Distinguished Lego Batman Collector!  Like most AFOLs, I've been a Lego fan for nearly my entire life.  When I rediscovered Lego when my son turned four, I was really surprised to see the development of detail in the minifigures, and in particular the licensed figures.  And staring at a shelf of Lego sets in the store, my favorites were the Lego Batman sets.  I was hooked.

Naturally, I've begun collecting Lego Batman sets, minifigures, DVDs, and Character Encyclopedias, and I'm even on the hunt for that Lego Batman Board Game!  The collection is small right now, but growing every day.  So it was with great excitement that I recently saw the newest addition to the Lego Batman family: The Classic TV Series Batcave.  Because I am primarily a collector that likes to display sets from the collection, I wanted to review the set through the eyes of someone that would be building this set to display.  Without further ado...to the review!

First, the basics: at 2,526 pieces, this is easily the biggest Lego Batman model.  MSRP is £229.99 / $269.99 / 249.99€.  It includes nine minifigures, and all of them are awesomely exclusive to this set (for now).  It also includes three "modules" of Wayne Manor/Batcave, one killer Batmobile, one nice Batcopter, one slick Batcycle complete with sidecar, and a host of Batcave accessories.  As is typical with licensed minifigures, they are spread out throughout the bags.  As expected, the box is big - it's the same frame size as the Grand Emporium box with roughly 1" more depth to the box.  As you can see in the picture, the box art is phenomenal.  Both the front and back graphics are set in a Classic Batman motif with a cartoonish skyline and an old school Bat signal to boot.  The box is so nice, it can easily pair with the set for those with unlimited shelf space.

Inside the box, there are the following:

2 - Number 1 bags

5 - Number 2 bags

3 - Number 3 bags

4 - Number 4 bags

2 - Number 5 bags

2 - Number 6 bags

1 - Number 7 bag

3 - Number 8 bags

In addition to the numbered bags, there are five unnumbered bags.  Three of these contain the same tan column bricks and dark tan plates, while the other two have unique contents.  There's also a bag with the instruction book and sticker sheet, and three loose-in-the-box pearl gold poles.

Right off the bat, the Number 1 bags start you off with arguably the best parts of the set: the Classic Batmobile and the Batman and Joker minifigs.  

The first two minifigures don't disappoint, and they provide a wonderful departure from the typical Batman minifigure.  Both have exquisite detailing  like the penciled eyebrows on Batman's cowl and the "whited out" mustache of the Joker.  Both have two minifigure faces, although the Joker's is obviously more pronounced since his head print isn't hiding behind a cowl.  These are easily my favorite Batman and Joker minifigure of the entire Lego Batman theme. 

The Batmobile construction rounds out bags 1, and it also doesn't disappoint.  This build is magnifiicent and truly captures the lines, angles, and detailing of the original Batmobile.  From the red phone between the seats to the angled wings, this build is incredibly accurate and allows both Batman and Robin minifigures to sit comfortably while on display.  The spongy capes included with both Batman and Robin allow each to "flutter" in the breeze of the open convertible while still returning to its original shape after a quick ride.  Also a small hatch in the back solves an age old issue for Lego Batman collectors - it's a great place to store the extra batarangs!  I even like the stud shooters that were incorporated into the hood, although purists may feel these details are unnecessary and, at worst, a Lego-forced encroachment on a legendary vehicle.   In my opinion, this Batmobile is a no-doubt home run.  The design team deserves a raise for this effort!

On to bag group 2...when sorting the set, I was surprised and there were five bags that were numbered 2.  Building Lego Batman sets over the last four years has conditioned me to expecting one or two of the same numbered bags, so five was a surprise.  Bags 2 contain the Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Alfred Pennyworth and the "cat" made famous by the Lego Shop at Home bullet point descriptor "Also includes a cat" - a non-sequitur at it's delightfully finest. 

I like the three minifigures the design team gave us here as they are all nice depictions of the show characters.  That said, I feel a little empty when displaying them as they stand in stark contrast to the phenomenal minifigures that adorn the rest of the set.  And the aforementioned "cat" is really just a retread of "Jeff", the cat from the Lego Movie that comes with Mrs. Scratchen-Post from the Lego Movie CMFs.  A little Bricklink research revealed this tabby has been in five Lego sets that were all from the last two years.  All that said, Jeff still provides a nice compliment to Catwoman when displaying an burglar attempt to break in from the roof.

As you can see, the build progresses from structure to cladding, back to structure, with a cladding finish. The star of this build is easily the Wayne Manor facade.  The windows are well designed with an attractive, "high-end" siding aesthetic, and contain wonderful, although slightly obscured, window treatments to hide the backside of the interior's dark tan plates.  The structure is solid, if not unattractive, although my only main complaint is that all of the holes on the column supports weren't covered.  This apparent nakedness gives a little bit of an unfinished look to an otherwise snappy build.

Bags 3 include Catwoman and the Wayne Manor interior build out.  

Another slam dunk winner - the Julie Newmar-inspired Catwoman is awesomely awesome with the hair mold from the Series 14 Tiger Lady CMF used to great effect, and the head and torso printing augmenting an already near perfect minifig rendition of this classic villain.  The whip accessory seems to make sense as an appropriate accessory for this minifigure, especially when mocking up break-in scenes for Catwoman.

The interior of Wayne Manor is very well done and displays really well.  The wallpaper print bricks are super, and aesthetically create an umatched ethos of wealth and stature for the room, a perfect reflection of Bruce Wayne's position and status in Gotham society.  The room itself includes the famous red Batphone to Commissioner Gordon's office, the impeccably designed Shakespeare bust, complete with the hidden button, and the sliding bookshelf that reveals the Batpoles for Dick and Bruce, complete with label plaques to match the TV show. The only complaint here is that the Batpoles behind the sliding bookshelf don't actually connect to the Batpoles you see housed below the structure.  On its surface, that doesn't seem to make sense as you would expect Bruce and Dick to ride the same Batpoles down to the Batcave.  However, this build allows Bruce and Dick to magically transform to Batman and Robin with a close of the sliding bookshelf and a conveniently hidden platforms under the floor to hide the Batman and Robin minifigures until it's go-time.

The finished Wayne Manor module of this model is really nicely done on both sides.  This creates a slight problem for display though - which side do you display?  I have chosen to show the Wayne Manor facade side as I have my current display with Batman and Robin rapelling up the side of the house, but you can just as easily display the Wayne Manor and Batcave interior.  I suppose it's a positive that both sides are so well done, but it does create a bit of a question.

There are four bags labeled with the number four, and these contain the Riddler minifigure and the Bat Lab bricks.  

The Riddler minifigure is pretty accurate to the Frank Gorshin version of the show's character, down to his memorable lavender gloves and iconic question mark shirt.  It comes with three TNT dynamite stick bricks as accessories, but I wish there had been something a little more that came with the minifigure.  That small complaint aside, this is one great minifigure, and I would guess this is the only minifigure ever to have lavender hands.

The start of the Bat Lab looks good with the use of some slick, albeit repetitious, "SNOT" techniques to create the octagonal core.

Bags 5 include the trim around sides of the Bat Lab, and the steps utilize some of the unmarked bag pieces shown earlier in the review.

Bags numbered 6 complete the Bat Lab by providing the top stone archway that frames the reactor, with a couple of hanging bats thrown in for detail.

All in all, it's a very accurate depiction of the 60s Bat Lab.  The removable computer mainframes can be removed and placed in front of the Bat Lab to expand the footprint of the display.  The designers have also included a smart little dresser where Batman and Robin can keep their day outfits.

Bags 7 includes bricks for the Batcave entrance for the Batmobile, along with a helipad for the Bat Wing.

A nice, matching start to the Batcave entrance, along with all those bats that now keep popping up everywhere!

Nearing completion of the set, we open bags numbered 8.  These bags include both The Penguin and Robin, the final stonework on the Batcave entrance, and Batwing and Batcycle.

Nearly as good as Batman, the Robin minifigure is really well detailed and accurate to the show.  The awkward "speedo-with-tights" look aside, this Robin is a really slick looking minifigure, and perfect compliment to Batman.  To my surprise, the short cape is also show-accurate.   The Penguin minifigure is also suprisingly good.  While similar to other Penguin minifigures, this one includes a lavendar hat (an exclusive color for this piece) that really sets off the minifigure.  With Riddler's exclusive hands and Penguin's, this is a great set for fans of lavendar minifigure parts.

The Batcave entrance displays well and works with the other two modules, but there are two flaws I see: the Batcave entrance desperately needs some foliage if this is truly intended to be the entrance, and the Batcave doesn't fit very well in this area.  From a display perspective, the first is much worse than the second as most will probably want to highlight the Batmobile in front of the display rather than hiding it in the entrance cave.  The missing foliage is a head scratcher - with a few more bricks, the designers could have made the entry incredibly accurate and added some play feature as well.  That said, it's still a nice addition to the Batcave, and it's a great place to display the Batcopter prominently.

Speaking of the Batcopter, I think it turned out nicely.  While it's a little chunkier than its small screen brother and the wings could have used a little bit of red trim, it's a nice piece.  It's just not as iconic as the Batmobile.  The Batcycle is nicely done too, although it's missing the windscreen the TV version has.  I also appreciate the design team's effort to infuse some of the red trim on the Batcycle with the round 2x4 plate behind the black dome, and their attempt at "batifying" the cycle with the vertical wing too.  While this wing isn't a detail on the original cycle, it's still nice to see the designers trying to separate the Batcycle from any other Lego motorcycle with sidecar.

The complete set is really an incredible build, with all of the campy components from the original TV series rolled into one great model.  As mentioned, the Batmobile and Batman minifigures are the stars of this model, along with Wayne Manor's exterior and interior.  The Batcave modules are accurate and look great, with the only major head scratcher being the lack of two continuous Batpoles that span between Bruce's office and the Batcave. 

Please let me know your thoughts on the model, minifigures, components and their display features in the comment section below!

For the Distinguished Lego Batman Collector

I have to admit that I am a fan of this ship. When I came back into LEGO collecting as an adult, I wanted Obi-Wan's Jedi Starfighter. I loved Star Wars, and I loved this ship. Sadly, it turned out that it was only available in the exclusive 7283 Ultimate Space Battle. I spent a lot of money bricklinking that set, only to be disappointed in how flimsy the build was. Eventually I got rid of the whole thing. I liked 9494 Anakin's Jedi Interceptor and 75038 Jedi Interceptor, but wondered if LEGO would ever revisit Obi-Wan's ship. As soon as this set was announced, my hands twitched to get one to build and review.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75135
Name: Obi-Wan's Jedi Interceptor
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 215
Price: $24.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At 24.99 the price per piece works out to almost $.12 each. This is on the high/middle side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 2 minifigures. The minifigures are Episode 3 Pilot Obi-Wan Kenobi and R4-P17. Both figures are unique to this set.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 3 numbered baggies, a sticker sheet, and an instruction book.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

BAG 1: I've built 9494 and 75038. In fact I built and modified 75038 several times. I expected that I knew what to expect from this build. Right from the start it is  different.

I was pretty happy with this build. I had expected one or two inverted slope pieces, but you build it out of a variety of pieces. It's more interesting than the previous versions.

I like that you're not using the same wheel pieces as usual for the thrusters. Although it doesn't look as much like a thruster port.

I think that in all previous builds, the cockpit canopy was almost dead last on the build. It makes so much more sense to finish it up now instead of coming back to it.

Obi-Wan wants you to have a nice day.

BAG 2: Here you build the first wing. I noticed right off that instead of leaving a hole in the wing right next to the attachment points for the wing tips, it's just recessed.

Notice the large void where the Astromech docking slot is.

Check out the stickers. If you look at the comparison pictures at the end, you can decide if you like the sticker half hexagon, or the brick built shape on 75038. I like the details on the stickers, I just worry about them coming up later on.

The blaster kind of disappointed me. It seems squat, and I dislike the gap between the cone and the rest that shows off the red pin.

Here. you are building the "seat" for the droid.

I was dissatisfied with how high she (yes, the droid is canonically a she) sticks up out of the port, so I tried removing some pieces. She still sticks up too high, and was impossible to remove. Although, funnily enough, her head came off and left the rest behind when I tried. (Just like in the movie.)

The round bottomed plate seems perfect as a foot for resting on a flat surface.

Another sticker showing off all of Obi-Wan's kills. I kind of like the difference in the slope

I love the new outer wing stickers. I wish it could have been printed, but whatever.

BAG 3: THis bag is pretty much the same as the last one, in mirror, without an Astromech. I'm going to skim this one a bit.

Interesting that there's a big Astromech sized hole in here, I was pretty sure they were going to fill it in pretty soon.

Almost the last thing you build here is a pod to attach to the bottom and fill in that hole. This made no sense and felt a little lazy since they were just mirroring the previous wing. It should have had a different design here.

Hard to tell here, but the vessel does not rest on the wing pods or the base of the cockpit. It's completely on the tips of the wings.

REACTION

I loved this set, it was almost entirely satisfying. Some things were done better previously. I was not a fan of the Astromech socket. Poor R4 sticks entirely too far out and looks like a whack-a-mole. The fact that  the ship rests on the wing tips instead of the cockpit base or even the pods on the underside of the wings is a design flaw, IMO. It places stress on the hinges that will more than likely cause them to slip and change the profile from the canted position to flat. I'm probably going to extend the lower part of the cockpit to relieve the weight on mine.

I like the stickers. I can completely understand why people don't like them. Hell, in many cases I agree. I just like the added detailing that we wouldn't have gotten without them. I compared the 9494, 75038, and 75135. I liked the added detailing on the wings. I liked the kill marks and the hexagonal cutout. The brick built cut out on 75038 seemed awkward to me. I like the blasters better on the 75038. I think that the slopes are kind of a wash. I couldn't tell you which was more accurate, all I know is that I am glad to have them both.

The Dark Red pieces of this set appeal to me. It goes with all of the other Republic vehicles. It's just more satisfying with the rest than Anakin's jarring yellow one. Too bad it is impossible to display with wings extended unless you build a stand for it.

Both of these figures are unique. The printing on the R4-P17 is extensively, but subtly different. Obi-Wan has a serious and a worried expression. The head with headset is the only real difference between this one and the one packaged with 75040.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As I recently blogged about, the future of Star Wars investing is (most likely) changing. We're looking at a future that may be lacking in Prequel era sets. This particular iteration of the Jedi Interceptor has been on the backburner for over a decade. I feel like this set is sure to be a steady gainer. If you can package this with a 75038 Jedi Interceptor or even better add a couple 75041 Vulture Droids, you'll have a winner.

The low buy in of this set will keep away most of the prestige level buyers that eschew anything that's not an exclusive. The relatively low level of speculator interest in the cheap sets will keep away the riff raff. Look for a price drop online in a few months as Amazon and Wal-mart try to offset buyer fatigue. Initial values will likely be low as people anticipate PT stuff to continue to be dogs. A spate of post retirement clearances will have the horde fighting each other for the bottom on this set, but stick it out. This set will have legs. Stick it in a hole and bring it out again in a couple years.  

I know that some of this probably sounds like the overly enthusiastic ravings of a fan, so let me sum up my thoughts. It's a hero ship that pairs nicely with existing retired items. It's unlikely to be remade anytime soon (after all it's been 11 years since the last time.)  Younger fans who came of age with the Prequels and Clone Wars will be getting better jobs with more disposable income and will be looking to get sets that remind them of their youth. It's likely to get passed over because A.) it's a cheap set and easily available and B.) it's a Prequel Trilogy design so the common thinking is that it's just not as good. That last point may continue to hold some water amongst older collectors, but someone has been buying all the PT sets that have been coming out for a decade and a half.

RARE PARTS

I'd like to take a look at some of the rare or unique parts that are in this set. This should help to highlight the pieces that may become more valuable once this set is out of production.

Trans-Black Windscreen 10X6X3 with Jedi Starfighter pattern with a square cutout was only available in 1 other set 75038 Jedi Interceptor

 Dark Red Flag 5x6 hexagonal was only available in 2 other sets 7283 Ultimate Space Battle and 75051 Jedi Scout Fighter

 Dark Red Wedge Plate 8X3 (Right and Left) were available in 2 other sets 7283 Ultimate Space Battle and 7259 ARC-170 Starfighter

 Dark Red Plate 1X10 was available in 3 other sets 60069 Swamp Police Station, 75019 AT-TE, and 75052 Mos Eisley Cantina

 Dark Red Wedge, Plate 6X3 Cut Corners was available in 2 other sets 70137 Bat Strike and 75003 A-Wing Starfighter

 Light Bluish Grey Tile 1x1 Round with SW Republic pattern was available in 2 other sets, 75038 Jedi Interceptor and 75076 Republic Gunship Microfighter

EXTRA PIECES

COMPARISON PICTURES

The control areas are all different. 9494 had a joystick, 75038 had a tile with a big sticker and 75135 has nothing notable.

See how much higher out of the socket R4 is than R2

Here are the new R4-P17 (left) and the older one from the Kamino Planet set (Right)

I haven't reviewed a microfighter before. I like Star Wars. I like Star Wars vehicles. I think these are cute. I have avoided doing the reviews because they didn't fit with my collection. The Resistance X-Wing Fighter had something different about it. LEGO Microfighters are small, and don't take long to build. Hopefully my self indulgence with the pictures amuses you. If not, I apologize.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75125
Name: Resistance X-Wing Fighter
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 87
Price: $9.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At 9.99 the price per piece works out to almost $.115 each. This is on the high/middle side of pricing for a licensed set. There is 1 minifigure. (This is standard for Microfighters.) The minifigure is unique. On the packaging he is listed as Resistance X-Wing Pilot. It's Pretty obvious that this figure represents Snap Wexley portrayed by Greg Grunberg. As such, I'm going to refer to him as Snap Wexley or maybe just Snap. (I wonder if he's got brothers named Crackle and Pop.)

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 2 unnumbered baggies and an instruction book. Speaking of the box, this is the only microfighter that I know of that has a tape sealed box instead of a punch tab. 

BUILD AND EXECUTION

There are no numbered bags, s let's just dump this and get started.

I asked Snap to help me put his ship together. I think he's giving me a thumb's up.

I don't know where he's going but we've barely gotten started.

Snap said that he needs a rest. I have no idea where he even got that chair, none of those parts are included.

Wait a moment, Snap. You said a rest, nothing in your contract about a mandatory lunch break.

Ugh, I've gotten derailed. Just ignore Snap and his loafing. As you can see, I've built the back portion of the X-Wing.  

Now, we've added a couple more attachment points for wings and some decoration on the back.

As Snap finishes his snack, the front of the X-Wing goes in place. Notice the U-Clips on top and bottom to prevent the wings from opening too far.

Snap's finally ready to help out after putting his stuff away, The ship is almost done. We just need to add the cockpit canopy and the wings.

The instructions have you build the wings in pairs. Maybe Snap's ready to help out now.

Oh, sure. He's posing like he did something.

REACTION

I can enjoy the chibi aesthetic. The cutesy look of the squat ship is fun. It just doesn't really fit in with my collection and display. Especially since my kids have destroyed all of the other ones that I built. If they hadn't lost some of the pieces, I'd likely be trying to get all of them. The minifigure looks good. We might not ever see him released in a larger set, so it's a good time to pick him up. The print on his helmet is great.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The microfighters are an interesting conundrum. Most of the sets are just troop builder stuff. a few have been unique minifigures. The first question that we have to ask ourselves is, is this character going to be remade? With JJ Abrams stepping away from Star Wars, will Greg Grunberg return for future installments? In many ways, this character reminds me of Porkins. A minor X-Wing pilot with a few memorable scenes, but no lasting impact on the series. Plus, there's the beard. To be serious, there are a lot of X-Wing pilots. There are a lot of unique helmets and heads that they can make before they need to revisit a background character. Look how long it has taken LEGO to revisit Biggs and Wedge. The main draw that I see in this set is the minifigure, and he's not important enough to make this set escalate in value.

The second thing that we need to think of is whether this ship is iconic enough to draw in the fans later. Yes, it is an X-Wing. X-Wings are iconic. But, it's not a hero ship. It will be a nice to have, not a need to have. Kids who have relatives that want to get them one of the important ships in LEGO form will scoop this up, because it will always be cheaper than every other X-Wing released. Even if the individual price on this kit goes up, it will always be hampered by the value of a real X-Wing set. Even polybags could torpedo the value.

The third and final thing to look at for this set is where it fits in the series. The third series of microfighters will be stumbling block for this line. LEGO has heavily loaded this series with sinkers. I feel that serious collectors will take a pass on almost everything in this series. What does that mean for the future? Well, if collectors ignore this on the shelves, they won't get a lot of refreshes. If the Microfighters line continues, there may be those who circle back around later to sweep the entire series. I would pin any future movement on how limited the number of refreshes are this year. But, if they don't sell at all, regardless of rarity they won't be worth anything in future.

I wouldn't expect this set to sell as well post EOL as the Series 1 X-Wing.

EXTRA PIECES

There are 2 extra pieces.

When Star Wars Rebels premiered, we were introduced to a brand new smuggler's freighter that had an odd shape. LEGO released the Ghost in 2014. It retired on January 1. In order to keep the demand fulfilled, they've created a microfighter featuring the pilot/owner Hera Syndulla in Micro form. In my review, I'm going to take a look at set 75127 The Ghost.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75127
Name: The Ghost Microfighter
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 104
Price: $9.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At 9.99 the price per piece works out to almost $.10 each. This is on the lower middle side of pricing for a licensed set. There is 1 minifigure. (This is standard for Microfighters.) The minifigure is Hera Syndulla. She is exactly the same as the one previously released with the larger The Ghost.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 2 unnumbered baggies and an instruction book.

BUILD AND EXECUTION

Hera's a real Type A personality and couldn't wait for me to begin building, so she started without me.

The build was interesting. I didn't really see it unfolding like it did. Hera's having fun putting it together.

To be perfectly candid, the build of the mmicrofighter was more interesting than the actual System set.

We're shaping the hull to the odd angles incorporated into the Ghost.

The clips are probably for the "wings"

I'm pretty sure that the small thrusters are for sublight speed. They'll snap onto the red bracket.

According to the system version, these pods are escape pods. I don't know that they aren't airlocks.

Time to build more angles into the Ghost.

Another red bracket goes onto the front. (note: I missed adding 2 1x2 light bluish grey plates here. I wound up adding them later.)

There's a clear dome for the front of the ghost.

Time to add the rear "wings" and the larger engines. Hera is very good at all of this.

The front wings are next.

I'm not sure that the "windshield" is facing the correct way. I'm not super happy about the stud shooter here. I guess it's something to deal with until they come up with a new way to fling pieces across a room.

Voila, Hera has finished her work and it's ready to fly.

REACTION

I actually really do like the look of this ship. The simplified design and cuter proportions make this look like a go-kart or one of those coin operated rides in front of the grocery stores. It was funner to build than the larger system version. I'll probably try to keep it out of the hands of my little girls so it doesn't get smashed. On the other hand, it might save my 75053 from their destructive hands.

Hera is the same as the one in the 75053 The Ghost. She's got a 2 sided head.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As long as Rebels is on the TV, the Ghost will be featured. The System version was expensive for younger kids. It's also retired now. I think that parents of kids who like Star Wars Rebels will be looking for the cheaper alternative. Even if this set triples in value, it still has an important character and will continue to be cheaper than the now retired 75053. I see this one increasing in value and being in demand, moreso than any of the rest of this wave.

EXTRA PIECES

There are 7 pieces extra. 3 of them are the extra studs for the stud shooter.

Is it really that good? is the question I intend to answer from my point of view in this blog. Lego set 75060 depicting Slave I in UCS style has been jubilated on every Lego related forum, in every review. So, conscious of these reviews and opinions, is the build still going to be great? Can we believe the hype? If you're like me, you already know my answer because the first thing you did when clicking on this blog is scroll down to read my conclusion. For those who are not like me and want to read the whole article, I tried to write down my thoughts and feelings (immediately) after each step of the build. I won't tell all surprises and advanced building methods I encountered, as that would ruin the fun for you. This way I had to actively think about the build along the way. Some aspects of this blog will transcend the nature of a review, such as using an alternative to the set's stickers and my thoughts on future demand of this Lego set and its parts.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Lego set: 75060
Name: Slave I
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 1996
Price: $199.99

Looking at the value of this set, at first glance it feels better priced than the 75095 Tie Fighter, a comparable Ultimate Collector Series model. But let's have a closer look, first at the pricing in the Netherlands. Here the Tie Fighter is priced €229.99 while the Slave I's MSRP is €199.99. While the Tie Fighter is 30 euros more expensive, it has 311 parts less than the Slave I. So unless you're a great Tie Fighter fan, if you live in the Netherlands and had to choose between these two UCS's, from a cost per piece-perspective the choice is easy: Slave I. But you shouldn't just look at piece count, other factors are also important (e.g. the Tie Fighter has lots of large plates). 

In the US, both UCS sets cost $199.99. The cost per piece for the Slave I is $0.10. With quite a few large and special pieces (which will be discussed later), this price is in principle good for a licensed set. And don't forget that there are 4 minifigures in this set. 

BOX CONTENTS

There are 13 build sections, some consisting of more than one bag. Within the larger bags you'll find smaller bags containing small parts. The beautiful canopy and black info plate do not come bagged. 

Instruction manual plus sticker sheet:

The instruction book contains some nice info on the 'real' ship, its design, its history and the Lego design. In that it resembles the booklets the Lego Architecture fans have gotten used to. There's even an interview with designer Hans Burkhard Schlömer about developing the model. Due to copyright reasons (and to give you a taste for more) I'll only show you a glimpse. 

THE BUILD 

STICKER SHEET
The first thing you'll have to decide is what to do with the stickers (no less than 23! Didn't expect they were so many just by looking at the sheet). You have at least four options:

1. Don't use the stickers.
2. Apply them. Your set will look great but it will depreciate. If you want to sell it in the future, it's better to sell it with an intact sticker sheet. Furthermore, because of the lack of quality of these modern paper-stickers Lego produces, before too long the stickers will peel and/or crumble. This process cannot be undone, the stickers cannot be restored.   
3. Buy an original sticker sheet, e.g. on Bricklink. I usually do this when building larger / rarer sets, but 75060 sticker sheets are too expensive (for my taste) already. In Europe I can find a few for 12 euros a piece + shipping. In the US there's a Bricklinker who offers them for 10 bucks + shipping. 
4. Buy a reproduction sheet, keep the original. There are specialized companies who make these sheets in rather good quality. Make sure you have the reproduction sheet at home when starting the build.
5. Reproduce the stickers yourself.

I chose 5. Just copy the sticker sheet on a A4 or letter format white sticker sheet. You can buy those in office stores. After printing, you can 'laminate' the newly made sheet by applying a transparent glossy plastic sticky sheet. Forgot that step myself, unfortunately, so on the pics you'll see matte stickers. 'Laminating' serves to give the same glossy shine as the original stickers, as well as to protect the pigments. Anyway, after (optional) 'laminating' you can simply cut out the stickers using a ruler, sharp knife and hard cutting base (cutting mat or board). For curved cuts, try to use a cup as template. The result: Not perfect, but to me it's a good alternative to using the valuable sticker sheet.

Here is the result (left: Original sticker sheet, right: The plate with reproduction sticker attached):

Bag 1: Opening bag 1 I thought to myself "will it be really that good?" Everyone seems to be full of praise as to building this set. Is everyone simply repeating what others say? Let's find out if the build is as good as the end result looks. The start (Slave I's base) doesn’t contain too many surprises. I take note that several 2-wide-plates only rest on 1-wide plates or bricks. The result isn’t flimsy though. On the following pictures you'll see the build status after each step, plus the bags used, plus spare parts, plus a minifig completely unnecessarily posing in a completely random manner. I included that for those who are to any extent sensitive to this obscure playfulness used in all Lego reviews. 

 Bag 2: Building the contents of (small) bag #2 brings a smile to my face. Diagonally extended… extended still… verticality brought horizontal, horizontality connected sideways... this is what advanced Lego building is all about! The second half of this sub-build is symmetrical to the first half, so I let my girlfriend have a go… she was equally amused.

Bag 3: This nicely shows the techniques to get the smooth sloped red base in its designated form. The build stays enjoyable.

Bag 4: This deals with the ‘top’ or ‘back’ side of the base. Great ‘ah!’-moment here. Some stickers have to be applied in this step. 

Bags 5: Starting these, the nature of the build changes dramatically. All you’ll see is technic bricks, pins, connectors, linkages, plates etc.: Building the connection section between aft and for bases.  

As with a good film script, the build process never loses pace, never gets boring. Some interesting building techniques are demonstrated while the underside is polished and finalized.

Bag 6: Continuing the Lego Technic exercise, bag 6 introduces us to (two-faced) Han Solo (including a beautifully moulded carbonite block). Work is started on the interior construction, ending with another ‘aha’-moment. Lovely. And.. this thing is getting heavy.

Bags 7: This is really 4 plastic bags and 1 small thick paper box. I recommend using a sharp knife to cut the tapes of the box if you're super-tidy and want to keep it in good shape. This step #7 brings us a very detailed Boba Fett-figure as well as both wings. If Lego wanted to make a set like this even better than it is now, one thing to mind would be the build order. Building two symmetrical wings in a row makes for a slightly repetitive experience. Why not begin the build (bag 1) with one wing and build the other (bag 7) now? Less logical but more fun. Anyway, the wings add to the surface of this vehicle. It's starting to look massive. To continue the fanboy-speech, the gravitation-driven automatic wing repositioning is very nicely done. Not sure what all the spare parts are for though (4x part 17-01, not used in the build). 

Boba Fett:

Bag 13: For me now was the time to build the stand. Probably the least exciting part of set 75060, I like to save the best part till the end. Building the stand wasn't all too bad I guess... plus you get a storm trooper in this bag (probably as a surprise for those builders who thought they only had the stand to put together). 

Bag 8: To summarize this part of the build: stacking up. The 'inner walls' are constructed here. Meanwhile the nicely detailed cockpit is added. Ok I'll admit, to me this build can't go wrong anymore; I'm just loving every minute of it. Even this simple 'stacking up' has its charm, as I'm constantly thinking what all the side studs are going to be used for.  

Bag 9: Simply great... what can I say... you just have to build this thing yourself. My favorite part of the build so far. And what a great way to use part 4278756 (gear shifter)... at one point the designer is just showing off:

But the result is lovely:

Bags 10: The 'tail' structure and the top (including canopy) of Slave I are built together. The full size is now shown, quite impressive. 

Bag 11: Port side plating is made. These are three larger subassemblies which come together at the very end.

Again, a very interesting and enjoyable build. Suddenly I realize I'm in the middle of having the best Lego build experience ever. Or not exactly in the middle... only one bag to go... unfortunately! The model is becoming very heavy by the way (1,68 kg now).   

Bag 12: Starboard side plating. As both sides are not symmetrical, the fractions of repetitiveness aren't at all annoying. The build is rounded off by the weaponry in Slave 1's tail.

OPINION

THE BUILD
This experience has been a treat. A great looking Star Wars ship model has been converted into a highly realistic, fun to build, awe-inspiring Lego sculpture. If this wasn't the best build I ever experienced (including several modulars and the astounding Technic Mercedes-Benz Arocs) it is certainly in my top 3. While in my opinion this set does not have any real flaws (except perhaps the weakly manufactured sticker sheet), if the build order was amended and if there were less stickers to attend to, that would make it even better.  To optimize your build experience I recommend starting with bags 11 and 13, then moving to bag 1 and from there keep to the designated build order.

THE MODEL
As everyone and their droid have already made clear, this model is a stunner. Have a look:

Although this is not really a playset (try playing with it for 5 minutes without breaking off something), the Slave I has some nice play-like features. The side guns are retractable, the 'cargo door' can be opened and Han Solo can be attached on its inside. If you accidentally lose grip and Han is dropped inside, you don't have to take the ship apart or shake it. There's a hidden hatch on the bottom; if you open it Han is released. Furthermore, the wings are gravitationally actuated. If built with care, the wing movements are very smooth. The tail guns are positionable, as are the wing flaps. The cockpit canopy can be detached rather easily and Boba Fett's cockpit seat can be turned to either horizontal (land mode) or vertical (flight mode) position. 

Many people have already pointed out that this set is huge. It's always a bit difficult to assess a model's size from pictures alone. To give you an impression I photographed Slave I together with a train, a classic Lego city truck and Architecture's Lincoln Memorial. The latter can easily be shoved underneath the ship if put on the stand. Both train and truck are tiny in comparison to Slave I. 

The minifigures are nicely done. Han (the only minifigure with two face prints) comes with his sleeping bag; as said Boba Fett is well detailed and there's a Bespin Guard as well as a Stormtrooper. Boba and the guard are unique to this set. Boba's two guns can be stored on clips inside the cockpit. 

The stand is made in such way that the ship can be showcased either seen from the front or from the side (this is done by simply repositioning two 2x1 plates). I prefer the side view because that way the UCS information tile is better visible. Perhaps the front view is more impressive though. 

PARTS VALUE
As discussed in the introduction I think this set has a good parts / price ratio. The current Bricklink part out value (incl. box and instructions) is $498.54 and there is little hope this number will ever go down. There are several special / rare parts in the set, such as:

• UNIQUE PARTS
• 4 dark green round corner bricks #95118.
• 6 dark red round corner bricks #95188.
• 2 dark red other round corner bricks #87559.
• 2 dark red yet other round corner bricks #58846.
• 1 sand green wedge 3x4x3/4 triple curved #93604.
• 2 sand green wedge plates 4x6 cut corners #32059.
• 1 transparent canopy #16477.
• The sticker set #75060stk01.
   
• RARE PARTS
• 4 dark green other round corner bricks #87559 (1 other set).
• 2 dark red wedge corner slopes #43708 (1 other set).
• 4 dark red 3x3x1 slopes #4161 (2 other sets).
• 2 dark red 10x1x1 slopes #85970 (2 other sets).
• 1 light bluish grey 10x10 inverted dish #50990b (2 other sets).
• 2 dark red 4x2x1 slopes #30363 (3 other sets).
• 1 carbonite box #87561pb01 (3 other sets).
• 15 sand green curved slopes without studs #15068 (3 other sets).
• 1 dark red 8x3x2 wedge open left #43708 (4 other sets).
• 1 dark red 8x3x2 wedge open right #41749 (4 other sets).
• 6 light bluish grey round corner plates #30565 (4 other sets).
• 4 yellow liftarm pieces #60484 (4 other sets). 
• 2 dark red round corner plates #30565 (5 other sets).
• 2 dark bluish grey round corner bricks #88293 (5 other sets).
• 18 dark red 4x1x1 slopes #60477 (5 other sets).
• 2 light bluish grey mudguards #62361 (5 other sets).

Probably I forgot a few. Also don't forget about what I mentioned about the minifigures. So if you are a collector and if you wanted to gather this set roaming the vaults of Bricklink in a few years from now I'd have to wish you luck. There are many unique and rare pieces around this set. Unless Lego will reuse these pieces in other sets (I don't see an extensive market for the enormous and very specific canopy part, to name an example) I think the parts value of this set will only go up. If you want this ship, buy it while it hasn't been retired. 

DESIRABILITY
To me it is beyond any doubt that this set will be cherished by Lego collectors who own it, longed for by those who don't. Chances of a remake are thin I think. Would any designer dare to tackle remaking / improving a set this good? And even if it was to be remade, why not first do an updated Tie Interceptor (7181), Rebel Blockade Runner (10019), Naboo Starfighter (10026), Snowspeeder (10129), Imperial Star Destroyer (10030), Y-Wing (10134), Death Star II (10143), AT-ST (10174), Advanced Tie Fighter (10175), AT-AT (10178), Millennium Falcon (10179), Dropship / AT-OT (10195), Imperial Shuttle (10212), Obi-Wan's Starfighter (10215), Super Star Destroyer (10221) or B-Wing (10227)? My point is, so many UCS vehicles have been made during the last 15 years and Slave I was ignored until now; I don't see a swift remake coming. The only UCS-remake thus far is the X-Wing and it took Lego 13 years before it was executed. What are the chances of Lego wanting to remake an already almost perfectly modeled Slave I in 2028? 

When it will retire I have no idea. Could be swiftly (on Lego Shop at Home I saw quite a few 'out of stock' / 'available' changes the last couple of weeks) or it could take some time. Rumors about Slave I featuring in the upcoming Star Wars Rogue One movie (first anthology, 2016) and even a full Star Wars movie dedicated to Boba Fett (second anthology, presumably coming out 2018) may be reason for The Lego Group to keep this set around longer. Let's just say that If I were in charge of Lego I'd find it hard to retire a set this great and relevant to a feature film even if that film will be coming out in two years from now. I see two things possibly standing in the way of late (e.g. 2018) retirement: 1) license agreement ending; and/or 2) Boba Fett movie not being effectuated. According to some sources Disney has experienced difficulties in assigning a heroic role for the villain-like character Boba Fett actually is. 

In case set 75060 is retired before the Boba Fett movie comes out and if that movie will actually come out, these sets are bound to become even more desirable than they already will be otherwise.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Welcome, fast-scrolling reader, to this review! To give you the swift answer: yes the build is definitely that good. And the model looks great. Asymmetry makes it look more interesting. The finished Slave I is huge. And the box art is beautiful as well. The instructions contain interesting info and history sections. After its retirement this set will most probably become highly sought-after and its price will rise. In all, designer Hans Burkhard Schlömer did such a wonderful job that the creation of his disappointing newest model (UCS Hoth Base) is easily forgiven. Clearly as a designer you'll have to do what you can within the company's instructions and fortunately it seems that  for the Slave I project Mr Burkhard Schlömer had carte blanche. I'll keep my conclusion simple. This set is a must-have for any Lego fan and any Star Wars fan. Get it while you can!

Find it here on Amazon.

In a previous review, I looked at an exclusive Star Wars LEGO set from Target, the Hailfire Droid 75085. This time I thought I would look at the one remaining exclusive set from Walmart, Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter. This is the ship that Anakin flew in Star Wars: Clone Wars. For those of you who don't know or don't remember, in 2003 between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, there was a short lived animated series called Clone Wars. This series was loved by some, hated by others and largely forgotten until used as trivia. None of the events are considered canonical anymore since the CGI The Clone Wars series was launched.  

All of that to say thatafter about 2005, there was not a single product released in conjunction with the first Clone Wars cartoon series until someone at LEGO decided to greenlight 75087 Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter. Let's take a look at this unicorn, this beautiful anomaly.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75087
Name: Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 370
Price: $39.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At 39.99 the price per piece works out to almost $.11 each. This is on the high/middle side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 3 minifigures. The minifigures are Episode 2 Anakin Skywalker (also available in 75021 Republic Gunship), a unique Asajj Ventress, and a red astromech droid (unnamed) that also appears in 75039 V-Wing Starfighter.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 3 numbered baggies, a sticker sheet, and an instruction book.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

BAG 1: I honestly can't remember the construction on the last Clone Wars Jedi Starfighter that I built, so I'll be going into this without a comparison in mind. The first thing that I noticed was the place where the Astromech would eventually sit. If I remember one thing, it's that LEGO puts an ejection system into the deeply seated Astromech ports, a slot that an axle will fit in.

Obviously the attachment points for the wings, but what about that Technic pin with towball? Ys, this is a separate chunk from the first  one.

I was kind of surprised at how long this was. I guess for $39.99 I should have expected a longer/bigger ship, but I was thinking of how short every other Jedi Fighter in my collection is. (OK, maybe I was comparing things more than I originally thought.) There's 3 stickers applied to that 16x4 wedge. Too bad that they didn't print it, hopefully I got the stickers on straight.

Now, flip it over and add some details and a landing gear. The details consist of a pair of pearl gold binoculars on each side.

You also build Asajj Ventress with her dead white eyes, just like the 2003 Clone Wars character model. It would be nice if she had arm printing, but that's asking for a lot for a Walmart exclusive set, I think.

BAG 2: You keep building up the structure of the ship. You're surrounding the Astromech port to protect it in battle, or from just randomly falling out.

Instead of another landing gear or 2, they built a foot, and additionally some weird flap things. I wasn't really thinking ahead of the build, so I was wondering what these decorative flaps might be for.

Ag, attachment points for the engine pods. It's weird because I thought for sure that they were bigger in front.

Oh, there it is. Also 2 more stickers. I may have attached the stickers angling the wrong way. I didn't really feel like taking it apart to shift the stickered pieces around.

Now, you build a wing. Thankfully, the striped pattern is brick built instead of stickers. I probably would have stopped if these wings used ugly stickers.

Each wing has 2 guns and 2 spring missile launchers. But that wing looks short, right?

So you build a smaller wing and attach it to the tow ball. This creates the more fluid wing shape that appears on this version of Anakin's fighter. It's not super easy to pin the smaller wing to the bigger wing. I kept fidgeting with it.

Why is there a Red R2? Where's R2-D2? I don't remember the cartoon series, but back in 2003-04 Hasbro also had a red R2 dome. Maybe it's because in Episode 2, the Jedi Starfighter didn't have a full droid, just a red dome.

Bag 3: I see where we're going here, time to build the other wing. For some reason, I was thinking that the cockpit was in front of the Astrodroid at this point. Guess I was tired or not thinking clearly. Rest assured that even though I did not picture it, the wing builds are similar.

Looks like we're making the cockpit, look a sticker control panel.

Don't fly in space with a giant hole in your cockpit.

Ooo, another fin, and the last sticker.

Here it is, the final product with young Anakin. This is pre-mullet Anakin. He's still got that ridiculous braid too. I guess that's why he's so angry. 

REACTION

The set looks good, but to me it just doesn't fit in. There's really no other sets from this era of Star Wars. It's an anomaly that it appeared so long after the cartoon that spawned it. Asajj was never my favorite villain, even though I was reading the comics and watching the cartoon that featured her.

I think I set up my lighting wrong, so you can't really see the details on her head. Both minifigures have dual sided printing on their torsos and printing on the backs of their heads.

They did a good job matching the unique shape of this ship to the original cartoon image. It's not perfect, but then what is?

FINAL THOUGHTS

I looked at my thoughts on the Hailfire Droid, and I find that my thoughts for this set echo that one, only moreso. In this world of the Sequel trilogy and the anthology films, Clone Wars is becoming increasingly marginalized. The fans of 2003's Clone Wars are rarer than fans of The Clone Wars (2008) or Rebels. The only thing going for this set long term is that it is an exclusive. Its' exclusivity has not helped it terribly during its retail lifetime. I have never not seen this set on shelves somewhere. Walmart and the LEGO store stock it, and if it went out of stock, no one really noticed or cared.

What would have helped this set the most is if it had been retired at the beginning of 2016 along with the raft of other Star Wars sets from 2015. It seems that LEGo had no new exclusives for The Force Awakens to take its place though. Target, Walmart and Toys R Us seem to require an exclusive to be available at all times. Because of this, this set is sticking around, and won't get a discount until the week it finally retires. By then, consumers will be so sick of seeing it on shelves, it will quietly disappear into the stockrooms of the few who buy everything on clearance. I expect minimal gains long term. I just don't see a lot of people who were kids in 2003 to be clamoring for it later on when so many other, better sets are available.

EXTRA PIECES

As with most Star Wars sets, you wind up with some extra lightsaber hilts. You've got the metallic silver and the light blue gray Asajj ones in this set. Plus a gold pair of binoculars that is not very common.

I know I bought the First Order Snowspeeder in order to get the C-3PO polybag. I wasn't exactly excited about the looks of this thing before Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens was released, but I assumed it would get more interesting to me once I saw the film. I figured I might review this LEGO set with added appreciation once I had seen it in action. So I stuck 75100 on a shelf to age like a fine wine. The First Order Snowspeeder did not make a triumphant and exciting appearance. The enclosed Snowtroopers didn't battle valiantly against anyone. 75100 sat quietly on my shelf, waiting for a time that didn't seem likely to come. When I review a LEGO set, sometimes I have to hope that what I get is more than what I see. Let's see if this set wound up being more interesting than it first appears.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75100
Name: First Order Snowspeeder
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 444
Price: $39.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At 39.99 the price per piece works out to about $.09 each. This is on the low side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 3 minifigures. The minifigures are 2 First Order Snowtroopers and 1 First Order Snowtrooper officer. The only difference is a red shoulder pauldron and the weapon that you give the officer. The same Snowtrooper is available in the First Order Snowspeeder microfighter 75126 without a skirt.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 4 numbered baggies, a large sticker sheet, and an instruction book.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

BAG 1: You start the First Order convertible pretty much like every other ship in the universe, layering stuff to give an approximate shape. It does make me wonder sometimes, why do we get stuff like these grills that are just going to be buried in the build? Is it just to give MOCers something to use?

This convertible is starting to look like the finished product. Sadly, it hasn't really been terribly interesting to this point. There's a couple hinges to help shape the chassis.

With this number of brackets, we're obviously going to be sticking stuff to the outside. I hope it's not just panels.

Hey, look, it's a panel with a sticker. . . yay. The most interesting thing of note is that they went SNOT on the edges. So we know that we are done building up the walls of this jalopy. First Order Snowtrooper Officer has the red shoulder pauldron that you also get with the First Order Officer in Kylo Ren's Shuttle. Plus you make him a special gun by adding a white lightsaber handle to a blaster pistol. 

BAG 2: The stickers awaken. Fr people who love putting stickers on LEGO, this is the bag for you. 7 additional stickered panels get added to the outside of this thing.

We start adding something to the underside. I was surprised because I thought the body was fairly skinny. but obviously we're adding something tall to the underside of the structure.

Oooo, it's clear wheels in a bunch of Technic pieces. Now it will give the impression of floating as it sits in the background of scenes. 

Attach the Technic construction and start to try to disguise that the whole thing is there. (A side note. I have no idea why that light bluish Gray Technic pin gets put in there on both sides. Nothing attaches to it.)

Turn it right side up so that it can hoer and disappoint the way it was always intended to.

BAG 3: What's this? 2 Axels stuck together in a box? now it gets crazy up in here.

I am not a fan of the single stud shooter, but this crazy 6 stud shooter has a charm that I can't shake. I mean, who doesn't want to rapidly fling 6 studs as quickly as they can into the dark corners of a child's room?

Attach the knob do that you can most efficiently launch your projectiles.

Snap that bad boy onto the structure. So, now we've got 2 little pea shooters on the front and a big honking gun on the side.

And replicate it for the other side, and we should be all gunned up, right?

We need to greeblie up the back a bit, so here's your plate.

And another one for the front.

Cushy seats for the cushiest job in the First Order, plus 3 boxes of laser bolts. Why do we need 3 boxes? Well, as soon as your kid loses the first 12 studs, you need to be able to quickly replenish the stock of studs for them to lose. But, why 2 more on the deck? I bet you think we need one more gun.

Of course we do. another gun with another stud shooter. Now our Space convertible with the reclining seats is ready for inaction. Plus, the officer just picked up 2 of his buddies to go grab some beers. Probably, he'll use the storage boxes as coolers once he's lost all his laser bolts. My daughter did ask if these were girl Stormtroopers since they had skirts. The minifigures look excellent with lots of detailed printing and sweet new helmets.

REACTION

I was whelmed. I got exactly what I expected out of this set. No more, and no less. The build was routine with no interesting surprises. To me, the fact that LEGO added floaty wheels to the bottom of this thing says that even they knew it was dull. 3 Snowtroopers make this an armybuilder's dream. You can take these guys who did nothing in the movie and pit them against the Resistance ground forces that did nothing in the movie.

I am not sure, but this build may have made me accept the First Order Transporter a bit more. Apparently the First Order goes in for dull, utilitarian vehicles that have floaty wheels.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So, this vehicle was used as set dressing in a few places in the movie. It has the distinction of being mostly forgettable and almost entirely forgotten. If JJ can somehow add the chase scene back into the movie, interest in this piece will finally take off. An indication of its performance is that it got an early 20% discount that it still maintains. The price point of this set did not break the bank. It was the cheapest Bad guy set when it came out. It did sell out at Christmas, unlike Kylo Ren's ship or the Transporter. I think that was mainly due to the price point and not fan demand.

Unless this vehicle shows up in the next movie, or the scenes get added back into the film, I don't see a big upsurge in demand later on. A deleted scene extra is hardly likely to excite long term growth. Kids and adults like to see their toys in the media that they are watching. If the Snowtroopers had done anything interesting, they might have given this a boost. I spent an hour looking for pictures of the 2 occurences that I remember of this vehicle in the film. I could not find them. No one cares enough to point it out, as far as I can tell. I forecast low to no growth on this set. I'd be happy to be proved wrong, but nothing about it says "Buy me for a premium."

Find it here on Amazon

EXTRA PIECES

You get a couple extra backpack pieces and an extra white and black lightsaber hilt. The white is much less common, although not incredibly rare.

BONUS

Check it out concept art, cut scene and promotional still. Now you can feel like you saw these in the movie - ish.

I'm going to take a detour here and review something that is not a set. It's the only item that I got this week for myself that's LEGO related. I want to talk with you about the book LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy by Vesa Lehtimaki.

First, the technical information:

TITLE: LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy

AUTHOR: Vesa Lehtimaki

FORMAT: Hardcover

Pages: 176

LIST PRICE: $24.99

PUBLISHER: DK

First, let me say that if you're looking for a reference book of any kind, this is definitely not the book for you. There is no set information, random minifigures are thrown into situations and sets that were not released together by LEGO. The intention of this book is to show you minifigures and LEGO sets as art. As we all know, art is highly subjective, so some people won't perceive the value in this type of book.

A lot of reviews of this book hit on how dark many of the pictures are and how you're not shown the large number of dark and largely obscured images contained in this book. Initially I agreed that this was a problem. On my second look at this book, I started to see something new. Each of the shots in this book was taken and chosen specifically by the artist. He highlighted exactly what he wanted the viewers to see and obscured the rest. Each was a conscious artistic choice.

For example, take a look at the Chrome C-3PO portrait that the publishers put on the net. The direct lighting on the upper right of the head creates a look at this figure that many of us have never attempted. This is probably the most well lighted of the portraits. The artist chose to put the spotlight on textures and details that might go unnoticed in better lighting

He creates his own settings and lighting to provide ambiance. Throughout the book, he provides commentary on the pictures, giving some information on how he achieved the shots or his thought processes behind them.

The action shots are spectacular, and the way that he uses common household stuff to lend atmosphere is truly inspired

Apart from bits of commentary throughout the book, he has a large behind the scenes section where he shows off sketches, alternate shots, unedited shots, etc.

For a fan of Star Wars, you see someone else's take on the sets that you love. I loved shots of 9493, 75049, and 9492 in action.

REACTION:

The more I think about this book, the more I appreciate it. I might not agree with how obscured some of the shots are, but then again I am not an artist. I desperately wished that I could create pictures that lived, the way that his do. Each time through, I feel inspired to try taking similar pictures. It also really makes me want to play with my own LEGO sets.

The action shots in this book are dynamic. He creates real motion in a static image. The atmosphere shots are at times hit and miss. Sometimes I felt that as he tried for atmosphere, he just wet a little too far. There's a shot of Boba Fett coming out of the sand, and it looks more like a blurry sand sculpture in the middle of a blurry sandstorm. Sometimes less is more.

I am more than happy that I got this book. It's definitely going to be one of those books that I pull out from time to time just to immerse myself in this world.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This is the place where I talk about the investment potential of whatever I am reviewing. So let me say off the bat, I don't think it's a wise idea to buy a bunch of these and hope to make money later on. DK is well able to keep this in print until demand wanes, and might be more than willing to do a new print run or publish a new edition if aftermarket demand escalates. I have seen reference books increase in price. When word of mouth gets around and the original printing disappears, the price can escalate quickly. Though investing in new books is probably a slightly worse plan for making money than writing books.

The true value of this book for investors is what it does to collectors. A collector might look through a book like this and get nostalgic for a set that they missed out on. Most of the sets highlighted in this book are retired now. If enough new collectors pick up this book and see how amazing some of these sets and minifigures look, they'll be more tempted to go ahead and buy those retired sets. If they have those sets, they may want to purchase additional copies to do some of the setups that the artist created.

I do recommend this book for any fan of LEGO Star Wars sets or minifigures. My kids both loved looking through it, forcing me to lock the door to the room where all of my Star Wars LEGO sets reside.

Amazon has this book for a very reasonable $13.84 right now. Go buy it on Amazon

I remember when the leak for this LEGO set first surfaced. "What? Princess Leia wears purple and green? Admiral Ackbar is in it? Is this a new B-Wing?" It excited me inasmuch as any new Star Wars set does. Plus, we didn't know that it was called Resistance Troop Transporter. As images got larger, my enthusiasm diminished. When it hit the stores, and there was no other new Star Wars to buy, I was back on board. So let's take a look at the set that never made the Kessel Run. Let's Review.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75140
Name: resistance Troop Transporter
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 646
Price: $69.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $69.99 the price per piece works out to a bit over $.10 each. This is on the low side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 4 minifigures. The minifigures are unique to this set. THe Resistance Trooper with suspenders does not have any unique parts, but the combination is unique.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 5 numbered baggies, a large sticker sheet, and an instruction book.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

Bag 1: I felt that the build started out a bit weird. It felt a bit like I was building a ground structure instead of a ship. I wasn't really seeing the final product coming together in my head.

I have no idea, even after completing the build, why it made more sense to have several axels connected together here. I feel like a bracket on either side made just as much sense.

Ah, now we're getting somewhere. Now there's a rounded thing with stickers on it, very much not a small hut.

Well, I guess it could be a space hut, but, those spring shooters on the left give some hint as to it being more. Before anyone writes to point out, it took me a few more steps to realize that I had placed those gray pieces in the wrong position. I promise that I fix them in the next picture. The Resistance troopers are exactly as boring as ever. They do have the Pewter/Pearl Dark Gray blasters that I liked in the First Order Troop Transporter

Bag 2: You continue to make walls, walls with studs facing out. You really get the clue that they are going to do decorative panels here.

You add some curved pieces to the top. Now we're starting to make it more spaceshippy. Oh yeah, spaceshippy is definitely a real word. The hinge pieces on the top sides are interesting. I wasn't really thinking of what came next, so it piqued my interest 

You also make a series of fins for the back of the craft.

Finally, you add decorative paneling to the front.

Bag 3: We find out fairly quickly that the roof sections are attached to the hinges, and pegged in place by another rounded piece.

Underneath we add the curved slider pieces.

Then we build a pod of some kind. It uses car hoods to define the shape.

Sand green clips? weird choice in my opinion, but that can't be super common.

I don't know if those things are supposed to be rockets or what. The fin is just another thing that a spacegoing box doesn't really need, but helps it look spacey

Bag 4: We are gonna cockpit the heck out of this thing. Oh yeah, we're gonna make that cockpit like no one's business.

What started off looking spacious is starting to look a little cramped.

I don't know what happened with my picture of the dial mechanism, it looked fine in the camera, but when I loaded it to the PC, it was blurry. Suffice it to say that the dial in the next picture and the technic liftarm that you can see in the following picture are a part of the same mechanism that is used to open the cockpit. This is necessary because there's so much stuff built up around it that it's difficult to open manually.

3 stickers just for the cockpit canopy. I thought for sure that the pilot wanted to see where he was going. I may be wrong.

11 stickers just for this small portion of the overall set. That's ridiculous.

Now you make a door. Big sticker there.

It's actually starting to come together. looks pretty solid. Admiral Ackbar's got a coffee mug. Can someone explain to me why he's usually got a coffee mug? I realize its a joke, but they could have also given him a fish.

Bag 5: What's left? Well, a ship needs thrusters. Not only do you make the thrusters, which are actually a very simple design, but you're also making cowlings to cover the thruster ports.

After you get propulsion worked out, it's probably a good time to add weaponry. Here, we build the weapons pod.

Finally, Here's the whole thing. Pretty good size. Still reminiscent of the old school B-Wing. And of course there's Old Princess/General Leia.

REACTION

Something about this set just didn't grab me. It's an interesting enough build. Some of the details were nicely done. It's miles ahead of the build of the First Order Troop Transporter. The figure selection is dull. I think that maybe if they had really done anything in the film, or if this ship had been utilized as more than just background scene filler, I'd have more love for this set. As it is, I never really cared for the B-Wing and this just hits the same notes for me.

All of the figures have back printing. Ackbar is the only one with hip and leg printing. Leia's got a Dual sided face wrinkly serious and wrinkly happy. I think this is the first time that her hairpiece was made in that color.

FINAL THOUGHTS

With 4 unique figures and an interesting build of a design that was featured in the film, there are things to recommend this ship. My personal ennui aside, I do feel like whoever builds this set will be glad that they did. It's a troop builder set, a display piece to go with the Resistance troop battle pack.

The biggest detriment to this set is that it got limited screen time that included no action. Leia will be the part of this set that most casual collectors will want. The good news is, I doubt she's going to be showing up in many other sets. I don't think she'll maintain the early $30 price on Ebay for long. If I am right, after this set retires, she'll probably come back to that value.

It's a solid set that doesn't need a redesign as badly as the First Order ship. This one will hopefully be used again in the Episode VIII. I could only speculate here. It might not see a reissue then, if they have more vehicles to choose from. I'd think this set would go up in value later on. The specter of the B-Wing 75050 hangs heavy over this though. No one really got behind the closest cousin to this set, and I'm afraid that it will follow in the same footsteps. Early and continued apathy for this set could be longterm gold though as collectors later on try to complete a collection. It's hard to tell for sure which way collectors will jump. General Leia may have the cache to lift this thing out of obscurity.

I would recommend packaging this with a C-3PO Polybag and a Resistance Trooper Battle pack to garner more excitement. Or alternately the Battle on Takodana.

Find it on Amazon

Check out other 2016 Winter wave sets here:

LEGO REVIEW: Star Wars First Order Battle Pack #75132

LEGO REVIEW: Star Wars Resistance Trooper Battle Pack #75131

LEGO REVIEW: Star Wars battle on Takodana #75139

EXTRA PIECES

The winter wave of Star Wars LEGO sets has begun to hit. The Force Awakens sets are front and center, just the way that should be expected weeks after the movie is released. Since they are here, it is time for a review. In this installment, we'll be looking at the set that is the turning point of the movie that brings our heroes and villains more firmly into their roles, the Battle on Takodana.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75139
Name: Battle on Takodana
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 409
Price: $59.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $59.99 the price per piece works out to a bit under $.15 each. This is on the high side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 5 minifigures. This version of Kylo Ren and the Maz Kanata minifigure are unique to this set.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 3 numbered baggies, a small sticker sheet with 2 stickers, and an instruction book.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

So, we're going to go bag by bag and talk about the build of this set.

Bag 1: The first thing that I want to talk about is the thing I was almost indecently excited to make, the baton that the riot control Stormtrooper brandished. It's a simple build that consists of a white telescope piece 64644 (its first time in this color,) a white baraki eye 58176 which is not terribly common, a black 58176 (which is new in this color) and a gray clamp bar 48729b. I was genuinely more excited for this single thing than the rest of the build, which says more about y personality than the set itself. Every time I look at my Stormtrooper carrying it, I imagine him yelling out "Traitor!" I only wish that the tip was blue or forked, but I will live with it.

So, now that we're past the exciting part, let's build Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana. We have to build the façade, and that needs a base. Very early on, we build the first play feature, a push bar that shoves out rubble in the form of 6 black studs. (I know, more tiny loose studs for the kids to easily lose.)

Then you begin building the doorway that marks the main display feature of this set.

TR-8R and his squadmate discuss how the TC-17 is not any better than the TC-16.

Bag 2: First, you build some doors. Of course, they're simple. They're going to be a very minor part of this set, with nothing through the doorway, you're probably unlikely to even open them.

Then you build up the façade. creating a lot of nice, temple/alien details. The triangular doorway is fairly accurate to the film design, including the lines on the door.

To represent the large number of banners hanging outside of Maz's castle, we get one. Is this one the Mandalorian Bantha Skull associated with Boba Fett? The one that is prominently seen front and center? Nope. We get one that looks like a strip of bacon.

Despite looking like bacon, it looks good hanging from the front of the castle build. I only wish that LEGO would release some more.

I'm not sure what to call the decorative bits that come next, I guess antennas? Maybe Maz Kanata is getting space ESPN for her bar, and has to use satellite dishes in order to make her bar patrons happy.

Bag 3: The final bag is full of play features. as an AFOL, these are not my favorite uses for LEGO. I'd prefer more complexity for the pieces, or more decoration. Anyway, you already have 2 play features in the making.

Next, you build a collapsing tree, and add some levers for one of the play features (the collapsing wall)

Then you top up the wall and make a box. I assume that the box is where you might conveniently find a lightsaber. The box slots into the inside of the wall. You can turn the knowb to kick it out.

Finally, you make the wall pieces that explode when you turn the gear in back.

REACTION

I really like the looks of the façade. It will look great as a background display piece. It has a lot of little levers and play features for kids, and the number of minifigures is not shabby. This is the cheapest way to get Kylo Ren and Finn, as well as a couple First Order Stormtroopers. Maz Kanata is the only unique character, but I don't think that she is what will drive sales of this set. She looks good for what she is. The detailing on these figures is good. All of them have back printing. The Stormtroopers have the standard angry face. Ren and Finn (sounds like a folk group) have dual sided heads.

Kylo Ren is probably the star attraction for this set. You can decide whether he's angry, or very angry. He comes with the same hairpiece as Ezra Bridger, all the young force users go to the same stylist I guess.

I forgot to mention, I was so happy that all of the guns were the standard blaster. You may remember from my previous Star Wars reviews how much I dislike the stud shooters. LEGO provided the Battle on Takodana with the proper weapons. If I had to make a complaint about the weapons, I would wish that they were molded in white to distinguish them as the Stormtrooper guns from The Force Awakens. LEGO hasn't done that yet, I just think it would be cool.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Playsets are not great in the aftermarket. They do moderately well, but people want the vehicles for display. What generally drives a playset are the minifigures. The more unique and interesting minifigures, the better the playset does. For now, we have 2 unique minifigures and one that is only available in another set that costs more than twice as much as this one. Maz Kanata's unlikely to be a must have for collectors. She's more of an inaction hero, so not a lot of fun playtime with her telling people about their eyes.

Kylo Ren and Finn are very likely to be reused. Interestingly, I think that the advent of this dual sided head will drive the price of the previous Kylo Ren figure up in the long run. I think his unique headpiece will eventually draw people back around. I would suggest that parter outers should get a hop on this Kylo Ren, since it's the one fans wanted most. 

People wanting to get this set for themselves will probably see a 20-25% discount down the road on Amazon, and eventually probably a clearance deal on these. It's not a terrible set. There's a lot of great architectural pieces for MOCs, 1x2 bricks with bricks molded onto them and 1x2x3 slopes. None of that though translates into long term gold. This set will likely appreciate after EOL, but unless it retires extra quickly, there are better places to park your money in the Star Wars world.

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If you want to see more of the 2016 winter wave check out

EXTRA PIECES

you get an extra white telescope and a claw as well as a couple lightsaber hilt pieces including the pearl dark gray hilt for Kylo Ren.

What's a review without a few action shots? Well, at least they amuse me.

I know Rey's not in this set, but I had to take a couple shots with her and Kylo.

With the new year come a slew of new Lego sets included a new theme: Nexo Knights. Rumor is, that the Chima line is retiring and the Knights are to take its place. The Nexo Knights are not really a throw back to the Classic Castle sets, but they are not true Steampunk themed either. At first I absolutely hated the idea, but the theme is growing on me. Sets in the theme range from the 1140 piece Fortrex to these small 75 piece sets. The 75 piece Ultimate Robin is what I wanted to look at today.

At MSRP $9.99 I was really curious on what one would be getting for their money. At first glance it looks like a glorified minifigure, but priced higher than a traditional polybag and double that of a Mixel set, I really wanted to know what I am getting for my money. The sets come in cardboard "boxes" that are a lot different than traditional lego sets, similar to some Hero Factory and Bionicle, but overall, not very practical, and not easy to open without destroying the packaging.

Inside the packaging are two unnumbered bags and instructions. Although small, the instruction book is pretty hefty for just 75 pieces.

At first glance, the minifigure has great coloring, a lot brighter than I thought it would be, and cool printing. The armor has a little cutout in the front for his "emblem" that is pretty cool. I am not sure why, but Robin apparently is a juvenile and comes with the child non movable legs. I believe the shields and the armor are new lego pieces, as this theme will introduce a fair amount of new molds. The downside to this is that, a lot of the new peices are not MOC friendly and won't have many practical uses outside of this theme.

The main part of the build is his armor. It is pretty simple build and has two of the longer shooters that attach to his back. The completed armor reminded me of Mechwarrior, and getting upgrades. In Lego form it is kinda cool, but very impractical. Tried as I might, I couldn't get him to balance without attaching him to the stand that is built in the second part of the build. I think it isn't very possible with the smaller legs and the giant unbalanced shooters on Robin's back.

To finish the build, the remaining pieces are used to make a sort of a stand for Robin. To the left are his helmet and some chicken, off to the right are more shooters and another shield. When it was all completed, I was a bit confused. It don't fit in well with my minifigure display, and it isn't really a "set" either. I tried as I might to figure out why Lego priced this set at $9.99 and the only reason I can think (other than more money) is from the Nexo Knight Powers that can be scanned into the app. To get the full effect I did download the game and play a few levels. At appropriate time I was able to scan in the three "powers" that came with this set. Worth it? No, not at all. Adding three powers in game isn't even worth the typical $0.99 game add on that consumers have gotten used to. In the in-app previews it appears scannable powers will be appearing in Lego magazines, on TV and a host of other places. I seriously doubt kids are begging mom and dad for these so they can be fully decked out in game (it appears that there are at least 65 powers that are upgrade-able). 

In conclusion, I believe these are headed to clearance bins everywhere, as the $9.99 price tag is just too much for what you are getting. For investing, stay away for a while. To build, I personally like other options out there including the larger Nexo Knights sets.

I happened upon some of the new 2016 battle packs almost an entire week before their street date. I was excited to get a jump on them and to increase my personal armies.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75131
Name: Resistance Trooper Battle Pack
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 112
Price: $12.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $12.99 the price per piece works out to a bit over $.115 each. This is on the high/medium side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 4 minifigures, all of which are, surprise surprise, Resistance Troopers. Okay, I stretched a point. The guy without the helmet is a Resistance officer. I cannot tell for sure at this time, but I think most of these figures are unique. (I will edit once I have clearer pictures of the Resistance Troop Transporter or one in hand.)

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 2 unnumbered baggies, a 4x10 light bluish gray plate, and an instruction book.

Now before I continue, I want to take a moment to talk about the box, which I almost never do. They have redesigned these smaller set boxes to be taped closed instead of glued. There's no punch out area on the back for you to messily tear apart your box, instead, you can cleanly cut open the seals and collapse it for storage, if that is what you do.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

So, the first thing that you build are the minifigures and the guns. I'll go more in depth about the minifigures in my reaction. I do want to talk about these helmets. It's a 2 piece helmet with a transparent yellow piece inside that creates a visor. I don't know why there's a hinged jaw piece. I don't think it's purely aesthetic, there has to be a reason for it, besides adding piece count. I do think that this helmet on its own looks good.

So, for now, I'll talk about the guns. The standard stud shooters are back. This time, to make them different, we've added an additional handle to the backs of 3 of them. Don't they look so rifle-y? Rifle-ish? Whatever, they're still ugly.There is one interesting thing to note. Building the 2 Force Awakens Battle Packs back to back allowed me to recognize that LEGO gave the bad guys red studs to shoot, and the good guys blue. Either way, I still hate these things. As a parent I really hate for my kids to play with these things too.

Now, on to the secondary reason that anyone would buy this set, the construction. We're going to be building a kind of landspeeder with a cannon. "What, like the amazing Flash Speeder?" you must be asking. Well, yes, only much smaller. So, as with anything, we make the base that everything else rests upon. On the underside, we attach those little 2x2 domed rounds so that it "glides"

Layering, layering is the key to a good lasagna. You have to put the right stuff on in the right order or it's just a mess.

Once you've stuck enough pieces on the back, you can attach your engine pods. I don't know why landspeeders have engine pods, it seems like military vehicles with their propulsion stuck way out to the side like that are just asking to be crippled and stranded on a battlefield.

Don't forget an open cockpit and a weak looking stand for the cannon.

I guess those blue things on the front are lasers?

It appears that I have forgotten to take a picture of the cannon. It's just another 1x2 modified plate with a stud shooter that has more stuff attached to make it look cannonish. The control stick of the landspeeder is cartoonishly short, so the poor driver will never reach it.

REACTION

I was not a fan of this set. For me, the highlight was the Resistance officer. His design looks like a uniform. he looks good, even if he only wears browns. The other troopers are not too exciting. I think if you remember back, I referred to their predecessors in the 75103 First Order Transporter as space farmers. Looking at these guys in their helmets, I can see that was unfair. With their tan helmets on and their tan and gray uniforms, these are the most bland army in the galaxy. The only interesting thing about them is that one guy has a huge moustache.

The vehicle is just small and lame and, to the best of my recollection, never appears onscreen. The resistance troops do nothing onscreen except mill about and dash from place to place. I guess the tan and gray infected them and left them largely ineffective, which is probably why they show up after all the Stormtroopers are dead.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There's not a lot to recommend this set. The Resistance troopers will be good for displays and troop builders. Minimal screen time or action involving these guys will put a damper on the casual collector buying them. The only thing going for this battle pack is that it's kind of the cheapest thing out there for the Force Awakens in LEGO that will be easily found. If the film producers don't redesign the Resistance uniform, then these guys will probably (hopefully) play a bigger role in future Star Wars films. If they do, then a battle pack of 4 of them will pick up. If they are redesigned (like the rebel uniforms were in every original trilogy film.) This will be a bigger dog of a set than a clone wars battle pack.

Of course, this set will sell at retail. mom, dad, grampa, grandma, and little Timmy with a small allowance will pick it up. I anticipate slow growth and low returns post EOL. (At this time, Amazon does not have a listing for this set. when they load it, I will happily add the link.)

Check out the companion 75132 First Order Battle Pack review

EXTRA PIECES:

I happened upon some of the new 2016 battle packs almost an entire week before their street date. I was excited to get a jump on them and to increase my personal armies.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75132
Name: First Order Battle Pack
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 88
Price: $12.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $12.99 the price per piece works out to a bit under $.15 each. This is on the high side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 4 minifigures a First Order Stormtrooper, a First Order Heavy Gunner Stormtrooper, and 2 different First Order Crew. The Heavy Gunner and the open face Crew are currently exclusive to this set.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 2 unnumbered baggies and an instruction book.

Now before I continue, I want to take a moment to talk about the box, which I almost never do. They have redesigned these smaller set boxes to be taped closed instead of glued. There's no punch out area on the back for you to messily tear apart your box, instead, you can cleanly cut open the seals and collapse it for storage, if that is what you do.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

So, let's begin, just open both baggies and dump it all together.

So, the first thing that you build are the minifigures and the guns. I'll go more in depth about the minifigures in my reaction. So, for now, I'll talk about the guns. The standard stud shooters are back. There's not one exciting thing about them, but there is one interesting thing to note. Building the 2 Force Awakens Battle Packs back to back allowed me to recognize that LEGO gave the bad guys red studs to shoot, and the good guys blue. Either way, I still hate these things. As a parent I really hate for my kids to play with these things too.

Now, on to the secondary reason that anyone would buy this set, the construction. We're going to be building a kind of turbolaser turret tower. (I didn't intend to alliterate, it just happened.) So, what's a good tower without a base?

Those flaps fold up into the tower for storage. The placement of that control console is a little awkward, I almost felt like it should be turned around. When you actually create the lower part of the tower with those 2x2 double slopes there's not a lot of room for a minifigure to stand awkwardly between them. Also, look, ammunition storage.

The turbolaser is one of those 1x2 modified plates with a stud shooter and some other stuff tacked on.

then you build a mounting station for it which will all snap onto the turntable on top of the tower.

REACTION

I actually like the look of this set. the tubolaser adds some play value, and doesn't look terribly funky. It was a very fast build. Of course it is, once you take away the 12 pieces for the handheld stud shooters and the 16 pieces for the minifigures and the handful of pieces for the reloads for the stud shooters, you've got a small polybag of parts, under 60. A few of the pieces are nice for building MOCs, but again, not a lot of pieces to go with. So, apart from the way too small build, there's the minifigures, the real reason anyone would buy this set. The standard stormtrooper and the crew with the full helmet have been seen before in sets like 75101 First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter and 75103 First Order Transporter. The Stormtrooper still looks amazing and the Crew still looks vaguely silly and plain at the same time. The Heavy Gunner sports a new deco on his torso piece. It looks good, any first order army needs a few of these guys around for a little bit of variation. Front and back decorations are unique on him. The second crew has a unique hat and a different head. I honestly don't know if I think this hat is sillier than the other one or not. I don't know how many crew your First Order army needs. If anyone buys a bunch of this battle pack, hey will have an army of Crew. I personally don't want an army of guys in undistinguished black jump suits and silly hats. Even though, you can relieve the uniformity slightly by swapping heads so that the open faced helmet guy utilizes one of the other heads. I will say that it is nice to see a little variation in the color pallet used for human Star Wars minifigures.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This set is overpriced. There's no way around that. The build is small and LEGO is surely saying that kids and collectors are going to buy it regardless, because they always buy battle packs. The price point is designed to get the impulse buyer, the casual buyer and the army builder. The figure selection is what will drive the aftermarket price of this set. Whereas the 75078 Imperial Troop Transport held 4 Stormtroopers, this one only has 2. Initial sales of this set will be brisk as collectors attempt to build their armies, but I think it will sour after a while. Those 2 crewmen are going to be the anchor that drags this down. The only hope that anyone who is hoping for big returns on this set has is that the Heavy Weapons trooper stays unique. I highly doubt that will happen.

This set seems like a cynical cash grab by LEGO. By including half the number of Stormtroopers, and a very small build, they seem to be angling for troop builders to buy twice as many of these sets to equal their Imperial armies. Of course, this set will sell at retail. mom, dad, grampa, grandma, and little Timmy with a small allowance will pick it up. I anticipate this design of troops to be around for years, so we'll be seeing them again. I anticipate slow growth and moderate returns post EOL. (At this time, Amazon does not have a listing for this set. when they load it, I will happily add the link.)

Check out the companion 75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack Review.

EXTRA PIECES:

I've been wanting to build this set since it was released in June. I never really realized how much I enjoyed stuff from Return of the Jedi until I really looked at my LEGO collecting habits. This particular ship is a beautiful and elegant design in the films, but how does it look when translated in the most recent LEGO iteration? Well the box was pretty, so let's delve into the set.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75094
Name: Imperial Shuttle Tydirium
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 937
Price: $99.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $99.99 the price per piece works out to a bit under $.11 each. This seems to be about average for pricing for a licensed set. There are 5 minifigures 4 of which are currently exclusive to this set. Chewbacca is available in this form in 2 other sets. Han, Leia and the 2 Rebel Troopers are exclusive.

 BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 6 numbered baggies, and a bag containing the instruction book and a sticker sheet.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

Bag 1: Here you build the basic foundation of the shuttle and the 2 Rebel Troopers. There's a box with 2 Thermal Detonators (although if you want 3, the extra pieces are there), a weapons rack, and a hatch in the floor.

Bag 2: you're continuing to expand the structure of the shuttle's body. You also create the attachment points for the moveable wings. They ratchet up and down individually and you fairly successfully disguise the spring missile shooters. If you look in the second image below, you can see the Technic Pin Connector (62462) that is used as the trigger to fire the missile.

Bag 3: The first thing I want to make note of is how cool and SNOT the engines of this ship are and how it's a whole panel that's attached to the back. I don't know why they went with the 2 2x4 tiles that will soon be hidden.

The landing struts are linked and will move up and down in tandem.

The hatch I mentioned before has a piece on a hinge that will prevent it from lowering on its own. You must flip this down in order the lower the ramp.

The bag finishes adding some details to the body, including guns.

Bag 4: The fin. The fin is awesome. Bow down to the fin. It is solid, it is large and in charge, and take it from me, make sure you attach everything in the right direction so that the pin holes line up, because getting it back apart to fix a minor mistake is a giant pain.

The fin just slots right into the top before you pin it in place.

Plus, you get Princess Leia and her cookie.

Bag 5: This bag is the biggest one in the set because you are making the wings and finishing the body of the shuttle. You make some panels for the body that pivot up and down to reveal the interior of the shuttle. The wings weren't terribly complex, but they were time consuming due to size.

Bag 6: Probably the smallest and most disappointing of the bags. I don't know if I was tired by this point, or if the cockpit design just wasn't that inspired, but compared to the rest, it wasn't a terribly exciting finish. The Han is nice, but Chewbacca's a little bit off. Maybe it's the dark brown, or the weird paint details. Maybe I was disenchanted with this portion, because the cockpit canopy cannot stay open. It's too heavy and closes on its own.

There were some extra pieces, including a cookie and a Thermal Detonator. I did not take a picture of the brick separator, but rest assured there is one.

REACTION

I really like this set, a lot. With the wings down, it is a beautiful thing. With the wings up, the bloom sort of comes off the rose. You see the underside of the wings when it is in the parked or resting position. The underside of the wings are ugly, kind of like an inside out sausage. Ok, maybe not that bad, but the most attractive way to display it will take a lof of clear bricks that are not included to make it display prettily. I really do like this set a lot. Despite the wing undersides and the closing canopy, it's a really nice set. The figures, for the most part, are nice. I really wish there was an extra helmet for Leia. I also wish there was a Luke with poncho to go with it too. I'm going to proudly display this set on its own until I build my Ewok village, then it will go with that.

This set goes well with Endor scenes, but it would also look great with a bunch of Imperials for an arrival scene. If I could swing the space, and got a good enough discount, I'd have 2 on display.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This set has the misfortune/fortune of being released 3 months before Force Friday. With the advent of all the Force Awakens sets, this one got relegated to a secondhand status. Fans and parents were more likely to go for TFA sets for the months leading into Christmas. LEGO most likely curtailed production in favor of the newer sets. This is all good news for the future of this set.

Original Trilogy sets are always popular. Well designed ones moreso. If the newer movie sets take precedence in production, this set will have greater scarcity that collectors might not notice until after EOL. I think this set will be strong later on. A week before Christmas, Amazon has sold out.

If you need something to convince you, check out these beauty shots. Go buy it on Amazon

As a countdown to the Force Awakens, I will be writing reviews on Star Wars LEGO sets this week.

I haven't really done an exclusive set before. I kind of wonder if the exclusives are the sets that people would be most excited about getting, or the ones that people wouldn't mind missing. Let's dive into the Hailfire Droid set and see if it's a can't miss, or a swing and a miss. 

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75085
Name: Hailfire Droid
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 163
Price: $19.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $19.99 the price per piece works out to a bit over $.12 each. This is to be on the high side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 3 minifigures Clone Trooper Lieutenant, and 2 Super Battle Droids. The Clone Lieutenant is exclusive to this set.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 3 numbered baggies, 2 decorated 10x10 trans clear radar dishes and an instruction book.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

Bag 1: You build your clone trooper and the central body of the Hailfire Droid. There's not really any interesting techniques in this portion of the build. You're basically setting up a solid chunk in the middle that you are later going to pin everything to.

Bag 2: This bag combines with the 2 radar dishes to create the fenders and attach the dishes as the wheels. Shown below are the fenders and the new attachment points for them.

You also build both of your Super Battle Droids. I have no clue why there's a trailer hitch on this thing.

Bag 3: You finish out the build by creating external fenders and the missile racks. I'm usually not a fan of these spring missiles, but for this particular set, I feel like it works. A few greeblies to give a bit more dimension to this thing, and a tilt of the wheels, and off you go.

REACTION

I like the look of this set. It's a fairly quick build. It needed a small gun emplacement or something for the Clone Trooper. He's massively outclassed in the firepower department, and a small build for him, would have made this seem more like a $19.99 set instead of a $14.99 set. I'd say it fits in well with all of the Geonosis stuff from 2013. Too bad that means it has been out far too long without anything to pair it with.

The Super battle Droids are standard. Nothing terribly exciting about them. They're nice to fill out a scene. I like the Clone Lieutenant though. The blue pops, and looks good when mixed in with all of the standard clones. He's got a standard trooper face, not a Clone Wars one, so that's a real plus.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This set is overpriced. It's a Prequel Trilogy set in a Sequel Trilogy world. There's nothing big to lift it up, and there are no main characters to draw in Timmy's mom. Scene builders, completionists, and impulse buyers are probably the target market for this particular set. It looks cool, but it's not instantly recognizable in the way that an A-Wing, Luke's Landspeeder, or the Droid Escape Pod is. If they had thrown in a main character or a unique Jedi, there would probably be more demand for this set.

What I haven't mentioned yet is that this an exclusive set shared by Target and the LEGO Store. In the long run, it will be harder for completionists to get if they want to fill in holes later. I don't know if the demand will ever be huge, but I anticipate the value to climb modestly just due to the fact that it is an exclusive. I would recommend pairing it with the AT-TE or Republic Gunship.

Shop for it on Amazon

EXTRA PIECES:

As a countdown to the Force Awakens, I will be writing reviews on Star Wars LEGO sets this week.

Today, we are going to be looking at a set that I have opened a fair number of previously. I have only built it once before, but at the time I felt like that was enough. Luckily I had a couple that I bought on discount to fill in on a day when I wanted to bang out a quick set and a quick review. I made an "artistic" decision with this set to portray the minifigures involved as building the set. Hopefully it's more amusing than annoying. 

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75078
Name: Imperial Troop Transport
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 141
Price: $12.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $12.99 the price per piece works out to a bit over $.09 each. This seems to be on the low side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 4 minifigures all of which are Stormtroopers. The Stormtroopers have 2 different expressions, frowning, and very unhappy. The frowning ones are exclusive to this set.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 2 unnumbered baggies, a 2x12 Light Bluish Gray Plate, and an instruction book.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

So, here we go, No numbered bags, time to open them up and dump them in a pile. I dislike this method of building larger sets, but on smaller sets, I guess it's fine.

It looks like I have a helper to put this together. Maybe he has some friends who can  help.

Now I was just thinking of a conversation in Clerks where Randall says "You think the average stormtrooper knows how to install a toilet main? All they know is killing and White uniforms." Well, let's hope these guys are better at making their own crafts than installing plumbing.

The basic size of the vehicle is very small. There's no driver's compartment, and the shape is moderately reminiscent of the Kenner toy that they show based their design on.

The front and rear have some interesting shapes. Nothing is terribly complex with this build. Honestly if I weren't taking pictures of Stormtroopers building it, the review would be very short.

The crew area is 4 slots on the outside. It has 2 flick missiles on top  in a rotating turret.

There were 4 extra pieces. Actually, that's kind of a relief, I get a little tired of seeing all of the extra studs. Speaking of Extra studs, there are 4 in the box in the center of the vehicle. I did not include them in the extra parts because the instruction book indicates that's where they belong.

REACTION

Back before this set was released, I was excited. The version in Rebels and the original Kenner version indicate a nice midsized vehicle, probably in the $20-$30 range. I understand that LEGO makes a small, inconsequential thing for their battlepacks, but this was never the thing that I wanted. It's ugly, it's short, it's squat and cannot hold the proper number of characters. Plus, I hate the stud shooter guns.

The minifigures are great, army builders to a man. Basic Stormtroopers without odd decorations that you never see on screen are awesome. That's probably why I have opened like a half dozen of these sets. I just need to give them real blasters.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Troop Builder packs have limited growth potential. They're cheap to begin with. The figures are usually commonly available in other places, and at the price point, they are easy impulse buys, so are massively produced. All of that said, Basic OT Stormtroopers are always going to be needed and popular. I could see the Episode VII toys eclipsing these for a while in popularity, but when Rogue One comes out, people will want their classic troopers. I would never stock up on these for resale at MSRP, but if you can get them at a discount go for it. They don't take up a lot of room. I foresee moderate gains post EOL. Something we probably won't see with the PT/CW/EU battlepacks. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think a Stormtrooper should be black or have red on him.

The customers that you will be looking for in future just want to build a scene, the bricks will be nice to try to MOC a better Troop Transport with, but the 4 Stormies will be what drives the sale of this set.

Go buy it on Amazon

As a countdown to the Force Awakens, I will be writing reviews on Star Wars LEGO sets this week.

Full disclosure, I missed writing at least one review to meet my own schedule. So I have decided to punish myself and try to make a new review each day until the opening of Star Wars Episode VII. Hopefully they will be enjoyable for you and for me. I would like to finish out The Force Awakens lineup, but I've already built Rey's Speeder twice and parted out another one, so I have no interest in buying another one to open and build. I have little interest in the Kylo Ren's Shuttle because it's ugly, and I may or may not open a Millennium Falcon. So, unless something changes, TFA might not get full representation. Besides, I am super excited to get to the Shuttle Tyderium.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75101
Name: First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 517
Price: $69.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $89.99 the price per piece works out to a bit over $.135 each. This seems to be on the high side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 4 minifigures most of which are currently unique to this set. This set is mainly a troop builder with 2 First Order TIE Pilots, 1 First Order Crew and 1 First Order Officer. The First Order Crew is also available in Kylo Ren's Shuttle.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 4 numbered baggies, and a bag containing a sticker sheet, and an instruction book. There are 6 small stickers, but for some reason I only used 4 and cannot figure out where the 2 remaining ones go. I read the instructions 4 times.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

Bag 1 creates the basic shape of the hull of the TIE Fighter. There's a back to back crew area for 2 minifigures, which just happen to be in this bag. You've got 2 pilots, which is one more than you usually get with a TIE Fighter. The Control stick is built from a Battle Droid torso. I like that, it makes it seem more thought out than the really old school 1x2 decorated tile like we used to see. You can just see the ports of the spring loaded missile launchers. 

Bag 2 completes the body of the TIE Starfighter. It has 3 hatches and I'm not sure if that thing sticking up is a cannon or an antenna. It's probably a cannon because it's attached to a technic pin that would allow it to swing forward. The red bricks and pieces create the stripe that I am going to assume is for the Special forces. It's pretty striking on this all black vehicle. The white at the ends of the "arms" is kind of jarring, and I hoped that it would not be visible in the final build. I do like the looks of this, very properly TIE Fightery. The First Order Crew that pops up in this bag is sort of plain, except his ridiculous looking helmet.

I have to do something different here, because the build instructions require it. Bags 3 and 4 are the same. The instructions show both bags in the requirements, and at the end just have the "X2" notation. You probably guessed it, each bag contains a wing. The only difference between the 2 bags is that one has a minifigure, and the other has the spring missile projectiles. I'm going to let you in on a little secret here. I haven't built many TIE Fighters. Most of them have very flimsy wings. To me that says everything about the TIE fighter, but does not endear them to me. These wings seem pretty stable. It's got some significant layering , which gives me confidence that it's not going to crumble while it's on display. I've read that the wing design is very similar to the UCS TIE Fighter.

There's this part used in the build of the wings that I don't think I have ever seen before. Bricklink seems to indicate that it's a rare piece. It's only available in a handful of sets

so, once you've built the wings, of course, you put them together with the body.

The opening hatch on top is what allows you to put the pilots inside, the front and rear hatchesjust pretty much allow you to see them.

There were a surprisingly mall number of extra pieces. It's an indication of the limited number of small pieces in this set. You do end up with 2 extra roller skates from the wing greeblies, so our First Order Crew or Officer could use them. I don't recommend them for the TIE Pilots, because there's no room to skate in the cockpit. I also include the brick separator, because I have so many of these now, and they are not a part of the build.

REACTION

I like the build. It definitely came across beautifully in the finished product. It was not complicated, but on the other hand, it's also not a box like the older TIE Fighters used to be. I liked the way that they decorated the wings. I have a horrible memory of how the 7146 was decorated, and am just as pleased not to go back to it. When all is said and done, this is a nice set, a little pricey on the 3P score. 13.5 cents per piece just makes it too expensive, probably by at least $10 for the set, maybe by as much as $20.

The minifigures are great, army builders to a man. Not a single named character to make you feel weird about buying multiples for a scene. They each have new headgear, obviously the pilots have the same one. I think that the design for the Officer's hat and the Crew are dumb looking, but that's not LEGO's fault.

FINAL THOUGHTS

TIE Fighters are the most common vehicle in the Empire. Strangely, this is the most common set from the Force Awakens line. Along with all of the product shipped to regular stores like Target, Walmart and Toys R Us, Costcos received large pallets of this set. When all of the other TFA sets sold out from LEGO Shop at Home on Black Friday/Cyber Monday this set still remained. I doubt there's less demand for this set. I think that the early discounts at Costco and Black Friday sales at Walmart and Target are going to be the price that drive this set.

It's going to be hard to look at this set with MSRP so far above average and get excited about it. The regular buyers, mom and dad and Timmy are likely to pick up a copy when necessary. I foresee it having a discount on Amazon for most of its life.

The 9492 performed pretty well after retirement, even though this set was coming along to replace it. The long term value of this set depends upon the reception of the new film. If people like the film, they'll probably want to accumulate these later on. It's actually about perfect for the size, so I doubt that they will make an updated version. Probably any future version of the First Order TIE Fighter will just be a repackage of this, which would seriously limit its growth potential. If I had to make a guess though, the next Sequel Trilogy movie will have a different TIE Fighter design featured to sell new toys, so we'll probably see a new TIE interceptor, Advanced or something like that. There's probably going to be a few years before the inevitable reissue.

(in the week leading up to the new film's release, and 10 days before Christmas, it is sold out from Amazon and already over $90 including shipping. Don't underestimate the power of a new movie)

Buy it on Amazon

I have been excited for this set for a long time. Most of the time, LEGO keeps a tight lid on their upcoming products. You only officially get to know about what is coming out a month or so before it is released. This, however, is an Ideas set.

LEGO implemented a program wherein they allow people to submit their ideas for consideration. The ideas need to be a fully completed MOC (My Own Creation). Public users of the site can browse all of the submissions and decide if they would support this project. If the project reaches 10,000 supporters within a year, it moves on to the LEGO Group to review. They look at the project and evaluate it a number of ways. This part of the process is somewhat opaque. One assumes that they build the set and see if it is sturdy, if it violates certain building principles, and whether it seems easy or exceptionally hard for the end user. They probably also evaluate the questionnaires that the supporter filled out to see if it matches their analysis. Then they would look at the pricing of the set and what the supporters said that they would be willing to pay.

Doctor Who is the 11th set to be released after going through this process. It was submitted to the Ideas program on February 26, 2014. It was released on December 1, 2015. Anyone who voted for this set has been waiting at least 18 months. You can review the original submission entry here: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/59181

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 21304
Name: Doctor Who
Theme: Ideas (Doctor Who)
Parts: 623
Price: $59.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $59.99 the price per piece works out to just under $.10 each. This is slightly better than the Star Wars licensed sets that I have done recently. There are 4 minifigures and 2 brick built Daleks. all figures are unique to this set.

THE BOX

Before we get started, I am going to take a moment to talk about something that I never mention, the box. LEGO Ideas sets come in a sturdier, nicer looking box. They really do celebrate the people and ideas that get selected and produced. The cardboard is heavier stock and has a nice opening and re-closing aspect. It's more like opening a treasure chest than a package.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 6 unnumbered bags and a thick instruction book with heavy paper denoting the collectible nature of the Ideas sets.

The instructions have some information about Doctor Who and the characters in the set. There's also a section with information on the developers of this particular set, including the interesting factoid that one of the people from the LEGO Group is the nephew of the 8th Doctor actor Paul Mcgann.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

Since none of the bags had numbers, I had to do the last thing I wanted to. I had to open them all up, sort through them and separate them. I dislike this immensely. I hate it when I buy a used set, and it just makes me mad that on a set of over 600 pieces, they couldn't organize it a little better. pieces of each minifigure scattered in 3 different bags shows that they had no intention of making it easier.

For those with a great dislike of stickers, there are no stickers in this set. Every decorative piece is fully painted.

There's a large number of Dark Blue pieces, some of which I think might be new in this color. Dark and Light Bluish Gray dominate the rest of the build

Enough about my sorting. That's not what anyone really wants to read about. First, the instructions have you build the 4 minifigures. You get 2 different versions of the Doctor, his companion Clara Oswald and a Weeping Angel. The set comes with 2 Sonic Screwdrivers, although technically one of them is a spare. The box and instructions indicate that only the younger Doctor is allowed to have a Sonic. I decided to spread the wealth. I guess if they had put any more sonics in there, Clara and maybe the Angel would be pictured with one.

I am not going to go bag by bag with this set, because it's impossible. Because of that, there's probably going to be a lot more pictures than I usually take. Also, the pictures will have more stuff in the background because most of my work space is taken up with all of the pieces I sorted. (this teaches me a valuable lesson to have a work area and a photo area.) I had assumed that they would start you off building the blue box, so I was really excited to get started on that, but they jumped right to the interior.

The first thing that we build is the base of the TARDIS console platform. The designers created a pedestal base to lift the platform up and give the illusion that there is more stuff underneath, maybe more places to go. As a side note, the original submission had a tilt function in this area, but it appears to have been nixed in the final build, as this is very stable.

Now that we've got the base built, it's time to begin working on the console's central column. I like hw they created some little details and hid most of the studs. I don't understand the 8 white 1x1 round plates that are hidden in the upper section of the column. There has to be an aesthetic reason for them, but to me it's just pointless. I did enjoy the way that they built the stairs out of a ladder. it was oddly satisfying to build stairs instead of using a stair piece.

I was curious how they would create a 6 sided TARDIS console. From my own MOC attempts, I know that it is not a shape that comes easily to LEGO. I sort of figured that they would use the same build technique that I finally settled on, but I was wrong. Their way is probably more "legal" as it is fixed into the build and won't move too much. The panels are created separately and snapped onto a series of bars that are pinned into a wheel.

I am honestly somewhat disappointed in the low number of switches, knobs and decorative bits on the console panels. When I think og the console, I think of a mess of stuff sticking up and off, not trans blue plates.

Once you have the console built, then you finish up the working area with a small handful of additional computer consoles, 2 on the outer railing and 2 above the console panels.

Now that the console room is complete, surely we build the outside of the TARDIS, right? Nope, now it's time to EXTERMINATE! We're going to build the Daleks. I'd like to just take a quick detour to talk about Daleks. They are generally rounded, curved and sloped. Rounded is typically difficult to accomplish with generally rectangular bricks. Most MOC Daleks are generally very angular with a dome on top. The designers of this set put some curved pieces on to give the impression of a rounded body shape, but it's more of an illusion than a practical distinction. The design of the arms prevents them from moving at all, but the head design allows the whole top to rotate. I am not a fan of the giant gap created by the way that they designed the eye, but there's not really a better way to portray that without designing a new piece. Putting a piece on top of a dome is no more satisfying.

Finally we begin working on the TARDIS itself. The notorious blue box is the last thing that you build. It took me a while to understand why the ting I most wanted to build was the last thing. It's because builders are likely to stop as soon as they get the TARDIS built and play with that for a while. If it's the last thing you build, then you're more likely to play with everything.

Full disclosure here, I made a building error that I did not catch until the very last picture that I took. This error was very early in the build, but thankfully, in the end very easy to fix. I placed the upper panel all the way in the corner, but it I supposed to be slightly offset leaving a gap all the way around. I apologize to all if this bugs you throughout the rest of the pictures.

Once you have your base, then you need to start creating the box. The exterior is a series of windows with solid panels. This is a pretty nice way to replicate the design of the Police Box. The corners are built separately with Plates used to raise the edges as well as ad detailing to bring the design up from just a simple box.

Just a warning at this stage, you begin putting interior details on the box, but it's very easy to pop out the bottom panel as you are trying to seat the pieces. The reverse image of the TARDIS doorway is a nice detail that I never would have expected.

To finish up, you add the panels that read "Police Public Call Box" these pieces come in 2 sections and are mounted on hinges. This is important to allow you to open up the build. The LEGO designers added a place where the Doctor could fit within the box.

Finally, you can attach the opened TARDIS to the console room platform to allow for the play aspect that it is bigger on the inside. The two separate pieces come together pretty well, allowing you to pick it all up together, but not so firmly that you can't take the 2 elements apart again quickly.

The characters look pretty good. The younger Doctor, Clara and the Weeping Angel all have 2 faces. The younger Doctor also comes with a Fez which looks terrible on him, and exposes the second face. Clara's got the 2 color legs that LEGO has been doing recently. I am not a fan of her hair piece, because her hair is generally straight and darker. The older Doctor is wearing a light purple jacket that I don't recall ever seeing on the show. 

There were a lot of small extra parts, Nothing too exciting, except for the extra Sonic Screwdriver, but that's not pictured here.

REACTION

I like this set. I wanted to like the set before I started, and I wound up not being disappointed. I was slightly disappointed that the TARDIS did not open on the door panels, but it makes sense the way that they designed it. Now the front door is on the front of the build. The reversed image fits in the right place and all is right aesthetically. It's just too bad that in order to have the Doctor peaking out, I'd have to dismantle several panels and remove the roof. The biggest change between the Ideas submission and the released product is in the choice of minifigures. The Cyberman is going to make an appearance soon in the Dimensions fun pack, but the suggested Doctors were set aside for the most recent iterations. The most popular Doctors of them all are #4 Tom Baker and #10 David Tennant. Their exclusion from this set, but inclusion in the Dimensions game play make me really believe that they will be making a later appearance in toy form.

Below, I have added some comparison pictures between the Dimensions set and the Ideas set. I'll probably do the same later on when the Fun pack with the Cyberman and Dalek is released. Sure I have a few quibbles, and some of the stuff that I worked so hard on for my own MOC are more appealing to me, but overall I find this set to be satisfying.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Doctor Who is enduringly popular and tends to draw a rabid fandom. Those outside of fandom either dimly recall bad special effects, or have no knowledge of this series at all. People who don't collect LEGO will and have gone out of their way to purchase this set. Within 12 hours of release online this set sold out and became back ordered on the LEGO Shop At Home site.

There have been comparisons between this set and The Big Bang Theory, I guess because they are both popular TV series that have recently been made into LEGO form. That's somewhat disingenuous. Big Bang Theory doesn't lend itself to fantastic situations or much play possibility. Doctor Who should be compared to the older sets like the Back to the Future Delorean or Ghost Busters Ecto-1. All 3 of these properties have already been slotted into the LEGO Dimensions game with new or modified minifigures either already released or soon to be. With the Ghostbusters firehouse coming to expand that line, we can hope that Doctor Who follows suit. 

Short term, this set has some limited flipping potential for Christmas 2015. If it remains sold out, or quickly sells out again before the holiday, people will potentially make 50-100% profit in that shortened time frame. In the long term, this set has some legs. I don't see it languishing like birds or Exo-Suit or even BBT. It will probably be as easy to get as Ecto-1 for its lifetime, but I expect the price to jump as soon as it EOL.

I have expectations that like Minecraft, this Ideas set will become a theme. There are a dozen different Doctors, dozens of companions and bad guys galore. They could create settings out of almost every theme that they have released to show his travel in both time and space. The European and International appeal of this property is pretty stunning. So, I could see this set being the pilot, the taste to get people in the door, and then they would retire it to make their own sets. If this becomes a full blown theme, the initial offering will be the most sought after.

I also think that the part out value for this set will be good. People will want multiple TARDIS(s) to display one with the control room and one free standing. Collectors will want multiple Weeping Angels, and some people will just want the Doctors and Clara. I think that this set has legs. Whether you know and like the show or not, the international fanbase will continue to grow as parents introduce their kids to the show and to LEGO. 

It's the holiday season, so pour a glass of eggnog and get your ginger snaps close at hand. Actually, are ginger snaps a holiday thing? I have no idea. Maybe I should just talk about the set.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 10245
Name: Santa's Workshop
Theme: Creator (Winter Village)
Parts: 883
Price: $69.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $69.99 the price per piece works out to just under $.08 each. This is much better than the licensed sets that I am used to dealing with. There are 6 minifigures. Without a lot of experience with creator or city sets, I feel like most of the body parts are reused. In addition to all of the minifigures there are 5 brick built reindeer. I was a little sad that none of them were Rudolph, but I guess I could swap the extra trans red stud for the brown one that is on one of the reindeer in the set.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 9 numbered baggies (3 bags each numbered 1-2,) and a bag containing a sticker sheet, and 2 instruction books.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

Bag 1: I'm going to still call it bag 1 even though it is the combination of 3 bags, because bags 1 is just awkward. You build Santa, his sleigh, 5 Reindeer, a Christmas tree and a North Pole sign. The sleigh has some nice little details, the runners in pearl gold, the Dark Green accents and the lanterns. The candy cane North Pole sign and the Christmas tree are nice little simple touches. The smaller reindeer has a similar, but simpler build than the 4 larger ones. They all have eyes printed on a 1x1 brick, and the larger ones have printing on their backs. Speaking of their backs, you build a pair of stacked 1x2 plates to fill in the gaps when you separate them from the sleigh. I don't know about you, but to me this is just so much extra pieces as I am unlikely to display them detached from the sleigh. I was half tempted to throw some extra 1x1 round plates on the ground under these guys, but maybe magic flying reindeer don't defecate.

Bag 2:Here we find Mrs. Claus with a plate of cookies, and the residential portion of the workshop. Santa's got an easy chair. There's a photo of the Claus's on vacation in Fiji, and a roaring fire in the fireplace. Plus Santa's got a big stack of mail. You use up most of the stickers in this section. I loved the little details in this portion of the build. The study is by far my favorite. the snow on the eaves is nice and I think the clock is great. I couldn't help but think of the Hill Valley clock tower when I saw it. I also really liked the ladder. Instead of using a premade ladder, we use bannisters and hang them sideways. The pearl gold pops out I think. The giant candy canes were annoying. I think they should have been added at the end, because I kept popping them off every time I moved the build to add more pieces.

Bag 3: This is where you find the workforce and their working area. This is the actual workshop. I don't know if the toy machine was supposed to go into the workshop, so my elves are building the toys outside, just like the box shows. Santa's kind of mean making his elves work outside in the snow instead of inside where there's a fire. I liked the toy machine. It wasn't a hard build, but some of the stuff on it struck me as clever. Plus look at those smoke stacks. No wonder the ice caps are melting, these guys are running industrial machines outside on top of the glaciers.

There were a lot of small extra parts, including a cookie, a wand, a candy, 2 flames, a hose, a bow, Santa's beard and a gold lightsaber handle. That seems like a lot of specialty pieces which makes me happy. I also include the brick separator, because I have so many of these now, and they are not a part of the build.

REACTION

I like this set. I wanted to start my winter village last year when this set was new, but I couldn't think of a place for it, and frankly my kids are too young to leave sets like this out where they can access it. Well, I figured out a nice, safe way to display a few sets in the living room, so I got this set. The kids love it, the wife likes it. It's all around fun and nice to look at. I don't know that it belongs in a winter village setting, but with my display, it makes an excellent stand alone piece. My 6 year old tried to help me build this, but she kept getting distracted and wanting to play, and my 3 year old had a great time playing with Santa and his reindeer as I was trying to keep track of all the small pieces that they were knocking around.

I don't know why one of the elves has a crying second face or why Mrs. Claus has an angry one. I guess it's just the reused pieces.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This set is on its second year of life, heading into the home stretch towards the holiday. Typically, these holiday sets have had a 2 year lifespan. I wonder though if LEGO might want to refresh this one again next year. It seems like it was a big seller this year. Since it is related to, but not of the Winter Village, I could see it being a bit of a spoiler. People who want only one holiday set would probably choose this one. It looks good on its own, it can work with existing city/town or Creator scenes. The building is barely a façade, so would look terrible with Modulars.

This set has a short life cycle. Sure, this is the second year, but each year it is only available for a few months. This should generate a scarcity, but it is also a highly perishable set. December 26, people will be looking for something else to fill that niche. Very few people will be looking for this set in March. In September, however, people will start seeing Christmas decorations everywhere and might start thinking of Christmas sets.

If this set retires this year, as we should expect, it should make gains. It won't be as rare as initial offerings in the Winter VIllage line, but it should have a broader appeal beyond those who collect to make a winter scene. The popularity of the subject matter will drive the price in the aftermarket. Unfortunately, it is also a very popular reseller target, so initial gains will be low until the quick flippers sell through.Go buy it on Amazon

As a countdown to the Force Awakens, I will be writing at least one Star Wars review each week.

Full disclosure, I have already built one of these previously, and I was not a fan. I found one at a significant discount, wanted a few more troops, and felt like writing a review because I had a joke in mind. I didn't think it was fair to write a review on a set that I built over 2 months ago, so I refreshed my familiarity with this set, and took plenty of pictures. I think my understanding of what works in these pictures is starting to get better, so hopefully you agree.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75103
Name: First Order Transporter
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 792
Price: $89.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $89.99 the price per piece works out to a bit over $.11 each. This seems to be on the low/average side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 7 minifigures all of which are currently unique to this set. This set is mainly a troop builder with 2 unnamed Resistance fighters, 2 First Order Stormtroopers, 2 First Order Flametroopers, and Captain Phasma.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 6 numbered baggies, and a bag containing a sticker sheet, and an instruction book. There are 4 medium to small stickers, so not too bad

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

Bag 1 introduces us to the First Order Stormtrooper, the helmet is a new mold, and the deco is nice and fairly accurate, with front of leg printing. The build itself is pretty basic, a platform with an action feature and a couple of long axles linked underneath. In addition, you get some brackets to attach stuff to the sides later.

Turn the knob, the chair goes up

Bag 2 is the part where I started to get irritated. you build a box. that's basically it, a box with a few decorative touches. Ask a 7 year old to build a space ship, you might get this same exact shape. I know, there's not a lot you can do with a ship designed to look like a WW2 troop transport, but surely they could have come up with something a little more complex, especially considering the next bag.

Bag 3 you build some decorative panels and slap them on the side of the nondescript box. Ta-dah, you now have a space box. Oh yeah, you also attach the landing ramp and finish off the second play feature, the rod underneath that keeps the ramp closed. I guess it could dramatically open if you push it, but for me, its more important to keep the thing closed in flight. You are also introduced to the Resistance "soldiers." To me they look pretty bland. There's nothing really uniform about their clothes. They could be farmers for lack of anything truly distinguishing a martial aspect. Interestingly, their guns are the same Star Wars guns, but molded in the pewter color.

Bag 4 is all about making your space box into a flying space box. Here, you add the engine and a decorative pair of struts to the ramp, as well as smoothing out the lines at the front of the ship. don't forget about the headlights too. flying space boxes need headlights.

Bag 5 brings us the figure that will drive sales of this ship in the short term. Here we get Captain Phasma. I could not get her cape to drape over one shoulder properly, so I guess she's walking into a heavy wind. She comes with a unique silver blaster, a uniquely shaped and colored cape, and the same helmet as the Stormtroopers in silver. In this bag, you build the rear panel, which includes a trap door over the pop up chair. You also build a conning tower with a slide out platform, where your minifigure has to stand to use it. You also put on some clear wheels on the bottom so that it "hovers."

Bag 6 you build 2 First Order Flametroopers. Their helmets are an entirely different new mold. You build them a massively oversized backpack using the new clear neck bracket and add a white round brick to a standard rifle to make their flamethrowers. You also make a panel to cover the troop compartment. This panel is designed to be removed and replaced easily with a modular type design. the stud shooters and spring shooters are poorly disguised. If stuck right on top and not modified at all could be called a disguise.

There were a lot of small extra parts, including a lot of transparent neon green for the stud shooters. I also include the brick separator, because I have so many of these now, and they are not a part of the build.

REACTION

I dislike this build. I disliked it when I first built it 2 months ago, and my opinion has not changed. There will be those who say, "You think you could do better?" Well, of course I can't. I am not a master builder. I am not clever enough to figure out a better mouse trap, but I can see that this one is sad. Others will point out that LEGO didn't create the boring looking ship design, that it was the people working on Star Wars. To that I agree, I just wish that the designers had tried to make this build more fun.

The minifigures are great, army builders are always welcome, unless they're space farmers. I love the fact that you get 3 different colors of the same old gun. It really added some variation to a bit of the sameness. I am also ecstatic that there wasn't a single stud shooter pistol. I hate those stupid things. The 2 different helmet molds was a pleasant surprise. Phasma's black, non-decorated head was not so much.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The main draw of this set is the minifigures, and that is where it is going to suffer long term. Captain Phasma is bound to be released in another set, and perhaps then she will have a decorated head piece. The $20 Captain Phasma figures from this set will tank when those future sets are released. I cannot imagine that they would ever consider leaving this character alone here. The First Order troops will definitely see release sooner than later. That leaves the Resistance Soldiers. I think we're going to see better looking Resistance troops in the upcoming battle pack.

The vehicle, apart from my disdain, will more than likely see another release. If it is as prevalent as TIE Fighters in the new age of Star Wars, we'll see a better version for the next numbered Star Wars movie. By then, they will be working off finalized designs and figure out a way to make the build more complex, and probably figure out what they are doing with the back third.

Short term, this vehicle will fly off the shelves in late December. It might even sell out before Christmas leaving a very short time frame to make some modest profits. There's still a ton of them out there in the wild, and the price point is high enough that they will move slower than sets with more ties to the original series.

I am basing most of my valuation on my belief that this ship will make appearances in later films. If Phasma stays unique to this set, if it doesn't get a remake in a couple years, it could be a grower. Some fans love the utilitarian look of the finished product. With the accelerated movie release, LEGO will be inundated with new designs and a need to pump out products for each subsequent film. That rush to stay current could push back the reissue date, if I am wrong and this vessel is not as common as TIE Fighters. 

I almost forgot my joke. It's all about the build of this set. Just imagine Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg with ugly goatees singing it.

"Step 1: Build a box. Step 2: put some stuff on the box. Step 3: Put your minifigure in the box. It's a fig in a box."

Next time we'll be adding some holiday cheer by looking at Christmas sets. Go buy it on Amazon

As a countdown to the Force Awakens, I will be writing at least one Star Wars review each week.

This polybag was available for free with a $40 qualifying LEGO Star Wars purchase from Toys R Us. Some stores allowed buyers to purchase some for $3.99, but not every store did, and not even the same quantities.

EDIT: Toys R Us appears to have shipped more of these to some stores and increased the price to $5.99.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 5002948
Name: C-3PO
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 3
Price: $3.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $3.99 the price per piece works out to $1.33 each. However, it's ridiculous to do the 3P math on a single minifigure, because you're rarely going to part one of these out.

BAG CONTENTS

3 pieces are in the bag, a head, a torso and leg assembly.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

If you have built one minifigure, you have built them all. I got exactly the build that I expected and there were no extra parts. He came with no accessories.

REACTION

I didn't go overboard taking pictures. In fact, I only took comparison pictures. I really like the looks of this figure. He's got a lot of detailing, and the coloring is really nice. He definitely pops in comparison to the older C-3PO that I had on hand. I guess the detailing is the same as the Sandcrawler version, but I don't happen to have one. This one hit on all cylinders (ha, robot jokes) and really made me happy to add him. Not only is the torso better detailed, but the arm and leg detailing are exciting. Plus, they painted his eyes! My only criticism is that the packaging implies a chromed figure, but oh well.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This polybag will be a nice to have piece in the coming months/years. The fact that TLG decided to put a character like C-3PO into a polybag is puzzling. The implication is that either Threepio will not be in any Force Awakens sets, or it will not be this version of him. Without having seen the film, I think that he has a very minor role, so could easily be shuffled off to a polybag, where kids who don't know better, won't miss him, but longtime fans will be demanding it later.

I doubt that TLG will release a TFA C-3PO with different Deco. So, if they do issue him in a boxed set, that will suddenly call all polybagged figures into question. How long until they reissue Darth Revan if they do?

Speaking of Darth Revan, this figure will never equal that one in value. It will be a nice little earner, unless it gets picked up for a LEGO Shop at home promotion, then it will tank.

This set has been sitting on my shelf since May the Fourth. I never really got around to it, always kind of figuring I would eventually. This week its time came. I don't recall why exactly I decided to pay full retail for this except since I was trying to get a Yularen minifig. It looks good, and I don't have another model of the N-1 anymore, so maybe that was part of it.

As a countdown to the Force Awakens, I will be writing at least one Star Wars review each week.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75092
Name: Naboo Starfighter
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 442
Price: $49.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $49.99 the price per piece works out to a bit over $.11 each. This seems to be on the low/average side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 7 minifigures (9 if you count the Droidekas, which LEGO did not), of which only the Naboo Pilot is unique. (I guess it depends if you count both Droidekas.) That's actually a pretty significant number of figures for a set of this price point.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 4 numbered baggies, a sticker sheet, and an instruction book. The stickers are plentiful and in most cases small, making me wonder if my sticker applications will pop out and look terrible in my pictures.

 (please excuse the date stamps, I didn't realize until I had already loaded them that my wife changed a setting in the camera)

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

Bag 1 is a completely self contained set of parts. You create Obi-Wan and the Naboo pilot as well as a box of guns, a "hovering" (rolling) munitions cart and 2 Droidekas. The box requires one sticker and the Droids each require 2 small stickers. The droids are each 30 parts, and the poor pilot's listed accessory is handcuffs, hey whatever he's into he can do it on his own time. My wife thinks the Destroyer Droids are cute. I like them, I've built a few different iterations over the years and these are certainly the most recent. I like the Obi-Wan, mostly because I don't have another TPM Obi-Wan hanging around. He's got a 2 sided head.

Bag 2 brings us the Anakin that was new for this set, the R2-D2 that has become standard since 75038 and some Battledroids, one with Commander markings. Anakin has a 2 sided head, and a helmet that you can swap out for his monster hair. In this bag, you build the basic body of the Naboo Starfighter. the only surprise to me was a Triple connector Axle/Pin piece (10288) that I originally hoped was some kind of neat way to mount the ship so that it would hover. It turned out to be the launching mechanism for the spring missiles, which are very well hidden.

Bag 3 finishes off the main body of the Starfighter. Lots of stickers in this part of the build.

Bag 4 is all about the engine pods, and some peripherals. The engine pods, you build at the same time. I like that you put some stuff inside to stop the various rings that might otherwise freely rotate from doing so. Some of the parts still turn, but not as many as old builds. I like the peripherals. The fuel pod that plugs into the engines make the technic pin holes look intentional. The Ladder goes well with the ship, but overbalances if you stand it by itself, and the rotating stand is nice.

There were a lot of small extra parts, of course you get extra Battle Droid arms, a lightsaber hilt and a couple goggles. There's also an extra pair of handcuffs. I also include the brick separator, because I have so many of these now, and they are not a part of the build.

REACTION

LEGO has been building the N-1 Naboo Starfighter since almost the beginning of their license with Lucasfilm. 4 times so far. This set is successful. It's a quick build since you use up so many pieces building Destroyer droids and various carts, stands, boxes, etc. The ship itself is kind of small but then again it's supposed to be. I like how they built a concavity into the bottom of the ship to hold the stand so that it wouldn't fall off, and you don't have to snap anything into place. The button under R2-D2 to dislodge him really launched him several feet in the air when I demonstrated it for my wife. I like that the cockpit is designed to accommodate Anakin with his short legs (standing up) or the Naboo Pilot (sitting down.)

FINAL THOUGHTS

I feel like the new release schedule for Star Wars films will change the re-release schedule of the "classic" sets. Too many new films with their own new designs will demand shelf space that traditionally would have gone to the newest version of an older model. Prequel trilogy sets are more likely to be left in the dust in my opinion. This is due to the lingering antipathy towards the PT in general and The Phantom Menace in specific.

These designs will make a comeback, fans who were children in 1999 and saw Episode 1 as their entry into the Star Wars universe are beginning to become AFOLs. In a few years, they'll probably be wondering why Pod Racers and Gungans and Droidekas are not more common. Then they'll look for sets like this.

All of the new products coming up are going to demand shelf space, so I could see this set quietly making an early exit. It's not a big gainer in the short term once it goes EOL, but it should be slow and steady. There will always be some demand for Prequel Trilogy sets, even though they are less popular than the new thing, or the Original trilogy.

A short time ago in a toy store not too far away . . . I was looking at this set on Force Friday and wondering if this set was worth getting. I haven't seen Star Wars the Force Awakens yet, so I don't know if this is Poe's primary fighter, or if he loses it 20 minutes in, like Obi-Wan and Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. It's $20 more than the previous X-Wing 9493, which I felt portrayed the X-Wing adequately. I knew I was likely to get this eventually when it went on sale, but I fear I fell to the dark side.

As a countdown to the Force Awakens, I will be writing at least one Star Wars review each week.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 75102
Name: Poe's X-Wing Fighter
Theme: Star Wars
Parts: 717
Price: $79.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $79.99 the price per piece works out to a bit over $.11 each. This seems to be on the low average side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 4 minifigures, of which 3 are unique. (I am counting the tiny BB-8 as a minifigure. It is the only reused figure)

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 5 numbered baggies, a sticker sheet, and an instruction book. The instruction book is nice and thick. It's square bound: The stickers are plentiful and in some cases small, which will make some collectors unhappy.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

There are some new elements in this set. I will focus on the most obvious ones. First are the helmets. The new helmets are nice. They've got plenty of decoration and the pilot helmet has an interior piece that is transparent yellow. Now, your pilots don't need a weird orange stripe on their heads to look like they have a visor.

The other new piece that I want to focus on is the cockpit canopy. This canopy has been the focus of a lot of discussion, because a production run of this set had a defective canopy. This caused a recall that created a shortage of this set initially. This part is a beautiful piece. It fits the design aesthetic of the X-Wing better than the part 30372 that has been used since set 7140 back in 1999.

Bag 1 creates the utility sled, a movable ladder and the base for the X-Wing. The little cart reminds me of the larger cart that was part of the 7140 build. Neither one is integral to the overall build of the X-Wing, but add a little bit of background details for displays or dioramas. The ladder is very simple, and a great element for displays. Until now, X-Wing pilots had to either stand on other people's heads or force jump to get into their craft.

Bag 2 continues to elongate the body, filling it out and developing its shape. So far, there's not a lot of difference from what I recall of the 9493 build.

Bag 3 has the most pieces so far. the body is fully developed now. Long and sleek and black and orange. The pins sticking out of the back are for later, attachment points for the wings.

Bag 4 we create 2 of the 4 wings. Disappointingly, the wings are not front/back like they appear in the trailers for Star Wars, they are slightly offset top/bottom. A lot has been made about the use of blue bands instead of white. For me, white would be just as jarring, red might blend in better, or black. But, honestly, I don't care about the color of that particular element

Bag 5, maybe as many pieces as bag 3. You create 2 more wings, engines for all 4 and laser cannons. The interesting thing is that the 4 wings are built in different orders. In order to not seem too cookie cutter, the designers took pretty much the same pieces and had you arrange them in a different sequence to get pretty much the same result. It's amusing that they put that much effort into it. I know that each of the wings is a unique build, in like previous X-Wings that would have had 2 separate builds for offside wings, but the sections of these wings that are the same read differently.

There were a lot of small extra parts, nothing really interesting, just the pieces you would probably expect.

REACTION

Well, it certainly is X-Wing like. I was happy that my set didn't have the defective canopy. It's a nice set, the detailing is good, and the minifigures look great.

This is not an entirely successful representation of the X-Wing from the upcoming movie. Those X-Wings appear to have a truncated, snub nose compared to this much longer one. It seems to me that the designers tried to take a shortcut by starting with the 9493 build and trying to alter it. The wings don't meet in the middle and separate front/back. So, while it was an interesting build and looks good, it is not exactly what I wanted it to be. The places where it succeeds, it really  hits the mark, smoother lines and better details than the 3 year old 9493. The Stud shooters on the sides of this one were slightly more successful proton torpedo launchers than the things hooked onto the side of 9493. More hidden studs should appeal to those who don't want their models to look like they are built from LEGO.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I frequently compared this set to previous offerings, 7140 and 9493, because some of the design aspects were direct call outs to the previous ones. Collectors have already been calling out the differences and appraising the value of this one versus the previous one. The disparity in retail price will give some pause to consumers. a 33% price hike from a similar set that was still available 1 year ago may give them pause. The price per piece is fine and shouldn't give pause.

Long term value is a very hazy question. We are standing on a precipice when it comes to Star Wars sets. For 16 years sets have been produced, sometimes to coincide with the release of a film. When each new film was released, the initial offerings were fair to poor representations of the new vehicles. The majority of these sets would later be remade with new techniques and new elements and were generally better sets on subsequent offering. Now, for the foreseeable future, there will be a new Star Wars film every year. Each of those films will call for their own new offerings, whether they are remakes of older sets with different minifigures (the speculation for Rogue One is that there will be Death Star and X-Wing and TIE Fighter sets from the original trilogy time frame) or entirely original designs, there is less space to recreate sets for older movies.

The Force Awakens features a variety of X-Wing fighters in a variety of colors, so we are likely to see more of the "new design" X-Wings, and if Poe appears in later episodes, he is likely to continue flying an X-Wing, so we'll probably see updates then. Updates/rehashes/re-releases are the death of long term value. The X-Wing set will probably have a huge demand for holiday 2015 with the release of the film only a week before Christmas, and the initial shortages, I can see a run on this set. I cannot see a long term investment value on this set at retail. You have to get discounts, and possibly significant ones if you want to see acceptable returns. With Episode VIII only 2 years away, the turnaround time to realize significant gains could be incredibly slim. If we assume an 18 month life span, it should retire in March 2017. If they have a Force Friday type release in September of that year, you have something like 6 months before I expect to see a new Sequel trilogy X-Wing.

It's a nice, fun set. Jimmy and Johnny and even AFOLs will want it this holiday, so QFLLs might have a field day in the weeks before Christmas. It looks good with 9493 and will be more in demand as the Star Wars hype reaches fever pitch. The new characters Poe and BB-8 will be fairly popular for at least the short term.

COMPARISON

I decided to take some pictures so that you could see what the 75102 and 9493 look like together. You can see the similarities and the differences.

Let me start by explaining that this particular review focuses solely upon the physical contents of the LEGO Dimensions set 71204 Doctor Who Level pack. For those who do not know about LEGO Dimensions, it is the newest addition to the LEGO video game library. The game allows users to customize their gameplay by adding minifigures and minibuild objects. The Minifigure chips unlock characters with unique abilities. The minibuilds have 3 different modes that each have in game instructions. Those builds perform different actions/duties in game. The basic game comes with a chip reader that allows you to perform certain actions based upon the placement of the chipped items. It seems like the gameplay is not influenced in the slightest by the physical bricks or minifigures on top of the stands. From gameplay videos online, it seems like Dimensions is similar to every other LEGO video game with certain enhancements to make the reader/base necessary. The Level pack (like this one) usually contains a single minifigure and a pair of minibuild objects. These items can be used within the basic game or add additional content in the form of an additional level including theme specific story content and a themed free play adventure world. I presume that the RFID chip for the Doctor character unlocks the additional Doctor Who content, as I did not find a code in the box. All of the level packs have a retail price of $29.99. Also available are Fun packs that also have a single minifigure, but only one minibuild item. These items do not add content, only enhance gameplay by allowing the user to activate new abilities and unlock secrets that already exist within the levels.

However, I am not including any information as to how this set impacts gameplay for the LEGO Dimensions game. I cannot add any digital content reviews, IE the Doctor Who level of the Dimensions game, because I do not have the game itself.

REVIEW DETAILS
Set #: 71204
Name: Doctor Who Level Pack
Theme: LEGO Dimensions
Parts: 83
Price: $29.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $29.99 this is not a cheap set The price per piece works out to a bit over $.36 each, which seems terrible for those looking to be about $.10 per piece. One assumes that there's some inherent value in the additions to the LEGO Dimensions game, but as I do not have the game, there is no additional value. Strangely this is the second set I have opened recently with such a high disparity between piece count and cost.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 2 baggies and an "instruction" book. The instructions show how to build your minifigure, and the rest of the book is an ad for all of the other level packs and play packs available for the LEGO Dimensions game. The assumption is that if you buy this set, you already have the game, so you would look at the in game instructions. I used a youtube video:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Level-Pack-Not-Machine-Specific/dp/B010R2RHME/

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

The big thing that I think people will buy this set for is the minifigure of the Doctor. At this point in time, he is a unique design with a unique hairpiece and a brand new Sonic Screwdriver. As far as likeness goes, well it's a LEGO so, it's as good as any and better than some. With the upcoming Ideas set, some of these unique elements will probably be replicated, but the costume is more akin to what he wears in the series than that strange purple outfit on offer in dimensions

The unique elements for this set look nice, new hair, printed tiles, and of course the Screwdriver. Also included are the RFI chips that allow the game base to decode what build you are using for the game. Without the game pad, I can't figure out if there's a difference between the 2 plain discs, so I just put the mini builds on the first one to hand.

The builds, once I got the videos up and running were simple and quick. They were each about half of the 83 pieces. So, they're smaller than a polybag, but bigger than an Advent Calendar build. They're cute little representations of things from the show, with the TARDIS being undersized and K-9 being dramatically oversized. K-9 only has a printed piece on one side. It's been so long since I saw the old Who episodes that I can't recall if that's accurate or not.

REACTION

I like the Doctor minifigure. I think that the minibuilds are cute and fun and will go on display. Whether I get the game or not, I'm not sad to have them. This set is not for every collector. People who like Doctor Who, especially if they like or are tolerant of his current incarnation, will probably dig it. People who play the Dimensions game will probably like more level and minibuild options. Fans of neither can probably find a much more value conscious set to buy and build. The Creator Treehouse, Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, Avengers Hulk Buster Smash, and the Lincoln Memorial are all examples of sets at the $29.99 tier.

There was a small allotment of extra parts, more than I expected. Happily one of the extra parts was the Sonic Screwdriver.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While I personally like the set, I doubt its long term value increasing significantly. For one thing, with this set and the upcoming Cyberman fun pack, I feel like LEGO is signaling an upcoming theme. The deciding factor in my mind is whether the Ideas set and the Dimensions sets perform. With that said, I cannot imagine this minifigure staying unique. I actually feel like any currently unique Dimensions minifigure will appear in a set sooner or later. If I am wrong, the minifigure will be the driving force behind this set. I doubt that the game will last more than a couple of years before they create version 2.0 or something, rendering all of the old content moot. During the life of this version of the game, these sets should be readily available. Modern game players are fickle and will move on as soon as the next shiny game comes along, so they are unlikely to have long term nostalgia for an expensive add on to an already expensive game.

If the minifigure is released in a later set, as I surmise, then any future value lays on the minibuilds. The TARDIS is cute, and the printed tiles are nice, but a larger TARDIS playset that has play/display value is coming soon. K-9 may have nostalgic value for fans of the 80's Doctor Who serials or the Sarah Jane Chronicles, but is a complete nothing to more modern fans. I don't see either of these providing long term incentive for people to pick up later.

I might not have gotten this set myself given its high price point and my lack of the Dimensions game, but I had VIP points to use and there was an inexplicable $5 discount. Am I happy that I got the set for myself? Absolutely. Will I be adding a bunch to my storage room in hopes of significant long term gain? Not unless I find a significant discount. Maybe you see greater growth potential, and dispute my points entirely. Well, I wish you good fortune. For now, I need to find a place to display these neat little additions.

Let me start by saying that I had no real interest in this set, or any of the constraction figures when it comes down to it. I got this set as an open boxed item as part of a Shopgoodwill lot that I actually wanted. I figured that I could try selling this set for some small amount, since the box was destroyed, or try building it and see if it changed my mind.

REVIEW DETAILS
Set #: 75109
Name: Obi-Wan Kenobi
Theme: Star Wars Constraction figure
Parts: 83
Price: $24.99

Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $24.99 this is the 3rd most expensive of the Constraction sets. The baseline seems to be $19.99, which is where Jango Fett, Commander Cody, and Luke Skywalker fall. So, this figure must have more parts or something to justify a 25% increase, right? Nope, the 3 previously mentioned sets have similar piece counts, and one can only imagine similar construction. The only difference is that Obi-Wan has a cape. Is the cape worth $5? Not in my mind. The price per piece works out to a bit over $.30 each, which seems terrible for those looking to be about $.10 per piece. So far, my mind has not been changed.

THE BUILD AND EXECUTION

The build is incredibly simplistic. You create an armature and just clip decorative bits all over it. This creates a fairly articulated figure, but that figure is ugly. Angular chunks and bits with gaps all over really don’t interest me in a humanoid clothed figure. I am sure that the aesthetic is better with armored or robotic characters, but this is not one of those. The waist seems awkward, but I can tell it’s designed to look like the lower part of his tunic.

My 6 year old helped me with this set, because she saw what I was doing and wanted to be involved. It was much easier for her than comparably priced sets like 75099 Rey’s Speeder.

So, after the figure is done, does it look like what it’s supposed to? Pretty much. It looks like a stylized representation of Clone Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi. When I think of him as the animated Obi-Wan, the angular features and armor pieces make more sense. They are not as awkward as Luke Skywalker.

REACTION

I still don’t like these models. My wife and daughter both thought it was cool, but as a longtime Star Wars collector, I know that Hasbro makes a comparably priced line of figures that have greater detailing and similar articulation. Hasbro’s figures are considerably smaller at 6” but to my eye look better.

I don’t think that this line is for adult collectors. I think with the simpler build and greater play value, it’s designed for kids. One might argue that most LEGO building sets are designed for kids, but this one really shows a lack of style and ingenuity.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This set has many drawbacks in my mind. A higher than average price point, a simplistic build, and it’s part of a new subtheme that was created just for the sake of having something different. I’m sure that some people will dig these, but I doubt the mass appeal. Of the Super Heroes that were created similarly, there’s a few long term winners, but I remember a lot of those hitting clearance and sticking around a long time.

With this being a part of the first series, if they do take off, the longer reaching value should be a modest increase, in my opinion. I haven’t heard anyone say that they really wanted this set or the Luke. I can see there being demand from completists later on, and with a lower demand now, the population will be lower than Vader or Grievous.

This set will either sit on my shelf until I decide to dump it, or will go to my kids. I don’t know that I could get more than a few dollars for it now. I’d say stay away, you’ll see plenty on clearance. Even then, wait for deep discount.