Month: September 2012

Toys R Us is having it’s annual Buy 2, Get 3rd Free on LEGO sets. In previous years, you could apply this discount to the many exclusive sets, such as the modular buildings, Maersk Train, VW Camper, Technic, and the really big Star Wars sets such as Death Star, Super Star Destroyer and Imperial Shuttle. But this year, they wised up, and didn’t include those sets in the sale.

Still a good deal, nonetheless.

With all the talk of LEGO discontinuing Ninjago, it should still be noted how overwhelming the Ninjago branding is in the LEGO aisle:

A mix of sets right up front:

City advent calendar is in stock:

Ninjago endcap:

Star Wars endcap. The planet sets were a really good deal in this sale. Not marked up as much as the other TRU prices:

Ninjago:

Lord of the Rings and Ninjago:

Technic sets weren’t included in the sale:

Super Heroes and Hero Factory:

Monster Fighters:

I never really paid much attention to this set until now: The Mummy:

The Ghost Train, for $84.99

The Werewolf:

The Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape was still in stock, at $10 above MSRP:

The Star Wars section:

Train:

City:

LEGO gear:

First time I saw this: The LEGO Art Carousel:

Friends:

I picked this up on eBay awhile back for a great price, and still can’t find the time or space to build it. It just sits on the shelf, staring back at me, wondering: “When?”

I couldn’t resist picking up the new LEGO Haunted House:

Back of the box:

The free zombie car polybag that LEGO gave me for spending more than $75:

Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard in buying Ninjago Lloyd ZX minifigs:

It seems that the LEGO Motorized Excavator will likely retire soon, so I took advantage of a recent Toys R Us sale to pick up two of them. In the past, I have really not paid much attention to Technic sets, but the more I see of these built, the more impressed I become:

The box has a flap like old-school LEGO used to have, showing all the functions:

These are 2-in-1 kits, so you can create an entirely different vehicle with it too:

Wow, this set is really incredible. It feels weird judging a set on something other than the greatness of it’s minifigs. The photos speak for themselves, but the end product is heavy, filled with detail, and makes a good display piece.

A very cool LEGO set just arrived in the LEGO Store this month, the Haunted House. While it is part of the Monster Fighters theme, it seems more akin to the modular series in terms of size, presence, the style of playability, and price. That, this is a set you will see on the shelves long after the overall Monster Fighters theme disappears, much like Medieval Market Village is till hanging around, years after the rest of its line has retired.

At $179.99 its YET ANOTHER expensive set, but one that is very unique, has some very cool colors and pieces, and is really the much like a dollhouse, but with zombies.

Beneath the set, you also see the new minifig three-pack that includes a ghost, zombie and a witch:

This was a cool coincidence. I stopped at the bank on my way to the LEGO Store, and they had vintage photos from the town in their windows. This house was displayed prominently, and to me, it has a striking resemblance to LEGO’s Haunted House:

I think LEGO is running out of room in their front display windows for all of these models! They now have four in-production modulars, Haunted House, Sopwith Camel, VW Bus, plus the large LEGO sets: Super Star Destroyer, R2D2, Death Star, Imperial Shuttle, etc:

Lots of detail in the Haunted House:

This month, LEGO has a promotion where you get this free Zombie Car polybag with a purchase over $75:

Another new set, the rock band minifig three-pack, all slightly different versions of collectible minifigs that were released earlier:

City Advent Calendar’s ready to be snapped up:

The Friends Advent Calendar. AFOL’s are still hearing news that there is only one small production run of these available in the US:

The September Pickable Model. A pilgrim? I have no idea. Looks kind of like Santa in his Fall clothing:

Nice black 1×4’s in the Pick a Brick wall:

Small tan plats:

One of the coolest sets LEGO has released recently, a Desk Business Card Holder, but it comes with lots of tiles with letters and numbers on them. I should have picked up one of these. Next time.

LEGO Pencil Holder:

The beach minifig pack:

There was some concern that the Kingdoms Chess set was getting an early retirement because it disappeared from LEGO’s website earlier this week. Still in stock here:

The Technic wall:

2012 Star Wars Advent Calendar:

A rather odd display of a blocked off Gold Mine entrance:

Master Builder’s Academy keeps on going:

That larger set, I believe, is $80. Another pretty pricey set, but it was a heavy box:

A Ninjago minifig. LEGO is not putting names of sets on a lot of their packaging:

The many pricey models you can buy. Before, I forgot to mention Joust, Diagon Alley, Maersk Train, etc:

Monthly Mini Builds:

I don’t remember seeing the LEGO Coasters before:

The Brickley polybag:

Super Heroes:

Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Lots and lots of licensed themes:

Death Star is still on the shelves! Amazing, it’s been out for so long.

The front of the store:

The side wall:

The back of the store. They had their last set of Imperial Shuttle and the Black Pearl behind the counter, the boxes looked a little worn. An employee told me they weren’t carrying Pirates of the Caribbean anymore.

Looking back to City and Friends:

For me, this was a highly anticipated set: Jabba’s Palace, set #9516. I never had the older version that LEGO released back in 2003, and was never a fan of the older Jabba that didn’t have any printing detail.

This set has a high price tag ($120!!!!) for a mere 770 pieces. But… it is saved by the massive amount of new and unique minifigs. I do realize that it takes a lot of $$$ for LEGO to create new molds for pieces that will only appear in a single set, and that the detailed printing costs money too. Overall, they have outdone themselves in terms of minifig detail.

Here is the box, manuals and set:

The front of the box shows off the new minifigs:

I’m not sure why, but this bugged me. One manual was landscape, and the other portrait:

Here is the back of the setup. Not too bad!

The door with the ominous spider droid in the background:

The setup with minifigs:

Overall it does a really nice job of recreating the key scenes in Jabba’s palace:

The has a quasi modular design to it. The entranceway breaks apart, the top comes off, and the back swings out. This will be especially useful when paired with the upcoming Rancor set:

Onto the minifigs. I am quite impressed with the delicate design of Salacious Crumb:

Bib Fortuna and Oola, really great job with the printing on both:

The back:

The Gamorrean Guard is barely able to be called a LEGO piece, since the entire top section is a single molded/printed piece. But… it does look amazing.

The back:

Boushh looks incredible, I am almost shocked at how good of a job LEGO did with this. Chewie, as usual, is the same old mold:

The back:

Han in Carbonite, and unfrozen with the same face (it’s a double sided head.) Nice to get this in another set – iconic:

Jabba is just amazing, they did such a great job on the mold and printing:

It’s nice that they allowed him to turn his head so he can slither along, and isn’t just stuck in the “seated” position:

Details right down to his tattoo, which I never knew about until they printed it on this piece!

Jabba’s back:

B’Omarr Monk:

The trap door play feature:

Overall, an amazing set. I got it for about 20% off via Amazon, which made it an easier pill to swallow, price-wise. But even at $120, you get a lot for your money.

I saw these at my local REI store, a small selection of different LEGO flashlights:

The Darth Vader headlamp was particularly interesting:

I like how the helmet is removable:

For a keychain, these things are huge!

My local Target had all kinds of sets on sale recently, but most for just a couple bucks off retail price. So a $19.99 set for $17.99. Around here, that pretty much just takes care of the tax.

First up though, I didn’t remember seeing these big baseplates at Target before, though their website lists them as in stock for every Target store in my area:

Star Wars sets on sale:

Creator on sale:

City on sale:

More City on sale (plus: City Bank Transfer still in stock):

Monster Fighters:

Super Heroes:

Ultra-blurry picture of Lord of the Rings. Hero Factory on sale:

Ninjago: