Month: July 2012

A few more summer 2012 LEGO Star Wars sets began arriving at my local Toys R Us. Here we have the Sith Fury-class Interceptor:

Jabba’s Palace. A pretty hefty markup too:

Evidently, Target is having a summer clearance of LEGO sets to make room for the new wave now appearing in some stores. The Target I visited today really didn’t have much of either – no new summer 2012 sets, and not much on sale. Let’s take a look:

It’s funny how much of the store the toy section occupies, I remember toy sections when I was a kid being dramatically smaller. But then, stores were smaller then too…

The LEGO aisle. City and Dino on the left, everything else on the right:

An endcap with Super Heroes sets:

Star Wars, the same sets we have seen for awhile now. Others are reporting these sets on discount for 30% off or more, but all were full retail price here:

Ninjago:

More Super Heroes:

Still some Harry Potter sets hanging around:

This was one of the few sets on sale, Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle

And a pretty good price too:

But the box was opened, which means that likely someone stole the minifigs:

The Pirates of the Caribbean Queen Anne’s Revenge was on sale too, one left:

Not really an amazing price for a set that has been discounted a lot. Nice ship though.

The one Star Wars set that was on sale for $17.48:

Dino:

Blurry City:

And more blurry City:

Today we take a look at another LEGO Lord of the Ring set, #9472 Attack on Weathertop. This set definitely felt more expensive than it should have been: $60 for a small set with 5 minifigs. Two of them are Ringwraiths which offer little detail, and two other characters can be found in other sets. The real key to this set and the $60 outlay is getting Merry. The horses seem to only be available in this set, and because of the red in the eyes, I am wondering if they are exclusive to this set. That black horses in future sets will have different markings on the head and eyes.

Like the Mines of Moria, the set offers great detail in the building style, and clearly meant to be displayed by adult collectors.

Here is what you get in the box:

I love the colors in this set, lots of dark green:

The finished set:

The Wringwraiths, horses, and little rock:

Good detail for such a small part of the set:

The details on the horse’s head:

Wringwraith:

The main portion of Weathertop:

Our heroes: Frodo, Aragorn, and Merry:

Back printing:

Probably my favorite minifig head at the moment:

Merry is looking ready for attack:

Weathertop:

Cooking:

The back. The way they curved the walls is nice, and you can tell all the different pieces they used to add detail:

The set opens up to show detail on the inside:

Oddly, they included two flick-fire missiles:

More detail:

Statue:

The staircase:

The parts I didn’t use, including the capes:

Overall, it’s a fine set but it still felt pricey for what you get. Also, unlike many of the other sets, it doesn’t have a modular feel to it, this is a stand-alone playset.

I had the pleasure of visiting a LEGO Store in a tax free state recently, which accounts to 7% savings compared to where I live. The storefront:

The Lord of the Rings is getting a lot of play in the store window, focusing on the minifigs:

The store was on a corner, and they had a very cool design on the side of the store:

Inside the store, it makes me wonder how well Master Builder Academy is doing:

Dino:

Monster Fighters and Friends:

One side of the store:

The other side of the store:

I have no idea what this is…. the eye of Sauron?

LEGO stuff by the counter:

Mmmm… modulars, Sopwith Camel, VW Bus, Maersk Trains, I never get tired of looking at this:

Joust and Harry Potter Diagon Alley are shoved into the area with the larger sets:

Ninjago:

Star Wars. I was hoping to buy their last Imperial Shuttle, but the box was really beat up and resealed with tape:

Super Heroes. Also interesting how they put the R2D2 set low so little kids can see it:

A variety of themes:

Lord of the RIngs:

I don’t think I have seen a display like this before, really showing off the modular nature of the sets:

Monthly mini model builds:

Big sets displayed in the main window:

There were a couple LEGO Star Wars sets on sale at Barnes and Noble for 30% off, Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator Set 7961 and Republic Frigate Set 7964:

I haven’t seen this before, the LEGO Star Wars LED Desk Lamp of Darth Vader. I thought it was interesting that they had box art for the older release (clone trooper on the box) and 2012 sets with Darth Maul on the box:

An underwhelming selection of Star Wars LEGO:

Some Lord of the Rings sets, oddly next to the Duplo stuff:

Still an entire shelf full of Alien Conquest:

Still some Pirates of the Caribbean in stock, and a red boxed Ninjago set:

I always like the LEGO guy reading a book on the top of the display:

So here we are in the middle of 2012… waiting for some summer LEGO sets, excited about what was recently announced at San Diego Comic Con, and starting to envision the holiday shopping season, with all of it’s great LEGO sales. Let’s see what the LEGO Store has to offer right now…

The last days of the Imperial Shuttle. Many places are now sold out of this, and with the UCS B-Wing about to hit shelves, we are about to say farewell to this guy:

LEGO Star Wars, still awaiting the summer 2012 sets:

Lord of the Rings, occupying the former Kingdoms spot in the store:

Some of the more interesting smaller sets:

July’s Pickable Model, which I assume is Uncle Sam:

Kingdoms Joust occupies a strange place in the store, shoved in with Creator sets:

Ninjago, all the red boxes are finally gone:

So many great exclusive sets all at once:

Monster Fighters:

Super Heroes:

The big Lord of the Rings display right when you walk in:

The Master Builder Academy display:

A $15 Ninjago minifig set:

The 2012 Monthly builds:

One of their “ribbon” displays:

Some employee with a sense of humor put a Lord of the Rings figure in the Friends display:

Pick a Brick wall:

Some of the LEGO Star Wars summer sets have arrived at my local Toys R Us. Even though I had a 20% off coupon, I still couldn’t justify the high cost of these sets for a few of the minifigs I am interested in. Let’s take a look:

Palpatine’s Arrest set #9526

$109.99, which I believe is $10 more than MSRP:

Set 9497, Republic Striker-class Starfighter for $49.99:

The Gungan Sub, set #9499:

$79.99:

Saesee Tiin’s Jedi Starfighter, Set 9498:

$34.99:

The mix of sets in the LEGO Star Wars section:

This was interesting, a LEGO Lord of the Rings case for $13.99:

It includes a green baseplate:

Today we are taking a look at LEGO set 9473, the LOTR The Mines of Moria. At $79.99, it hits the “mid-range” of the Lord of the Rings sets LEGO is now offering. 776 pieces and 6 minifigs, plus the huge troll and 2 skeletons (which I don’t consider minifigs.)

Overall, I am very impressed with the set largely due to the level of detail LEGO put into the construction. At every step, this thing is over-built compared to some of the more kid-friendly sets. You layer piece on top of piece, or use many smaller pieces to make up a section that, in the past, LEGO would have just used a large molded piece for.

Okay, let’s walk through this…

The completed set, with box.

Two instruction booklets:

I have heard people complain in the forums that the set should have been 4 times bigger. I don’t really understand that reaction, the key elements of the scene are well represented here. If you have the money, buy 2 sets and combine them… you will have a really nice set that way!

The cave troll. I’m never usually a fan of these large molded figures, but the printing is so nice, I have to say, this is a great figure.

Such a decorative back for such an ugly dude:

If I were a minifig, I would not want to get this guy’s attention:

The two orcs. Not sure if you can tell, but both faces are represented here. Scary and slightly scarier? I love he green color:

Back printing, hair and ears:

The head pieces came loose with all the other pieces, signifying that these weren’t made in China then packed in at the factory. They are hard plastic and have a nice feel to them, unlike many of the Chinese made Collectible minifig accessories:

Logolas and Boromir, both exclusive to this set:

Back printing:

Impressive detail:

Pippin and Gimli:

Even though it is covered by his beard, LEGO still gave his torso nice printing:

More incredible detail on the helmet:

The doorway. Just look at how many pieces it took to create the door. In the past, LEGO would just have two basic plates act as the door, but here we add all different tiles to give it texture. Same with the archway around it:

The back side:

The side wall:

The play feature allows you to hit two switches and have the columns fall down:

Again, the detail impressed me. Here I removed two pieces to show that they layered on small pieces to get just the right look:

Stacking lots of small pieces where a molded piece would have gotten the job done:

The hidden treasure chest:

Just look how much detail is in the column, all those different textures and pieces:

The back side:

The tomb (or coffin?):

The well:

Extra pieces I didn’t use:

This was a nice bonus pack of extra weapons:

The stickers. People complained too about this… how many stickers were included. The funny thing is, this set is so detailed, it doesn’t need ANY stickers. I looked at this as a complete bonus. If you like stickers, use them. If you don’t, like me, ditch them. It should also be noted that these are some pretty cool stickers, useful for a variety of themes and scenarios:

Overall, a really nice set!

I am breaking up some LEGO Elite Clone Trooper battle packs, and admiring the inventory. Here is a look at opening up and combining 5 of the battle packs. First up, the clones, which are still some of my favorite minifigs:

The idea is to keep the clones, get rid of the commando droids and integrate the rest of the pieces into my bulk collection of playable LEGO. Here is everything sorted out:

Some great colors in this set, I love the dark red:

The commando droids. The dark brown color is very cool, but I’m not a droid fan. Maybe some of these pieces could be used in interesting ways in a MOC, but I will likely just sell them off:

All the accessories for the clones, you get a lot of extra dark red visors and such:

I have a ton of Elite Clone battle packs, I suppose I will build up a bit of an army of these… stay tuned!

I recently had to move my LEGO room, and came face to face with something I have been reticent to admit for awhile: I have too much LEGO. With such great forums such as Brickset.com and ToysNBricks.com, it is so easy to find great deals on LEGO sets. Around the holidays, those deals become almost exponential, with 50% off sales, clearance sales and the like.

It’s become obvious that I have way more sets than I would ever have time to build, and duplicates of many many many (many) sets. So, I am thinning the collection a bit, of course with the goal of giving it breathing room so I can eventually add more. Funny how that works.

But the process is a good one – allowing me to get rid of stuff that I don’t love, and ensure that the sets I want to build will have room.

Here is a photo of just one shelf, some of the Emerald Night’s I have collected: