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Posted

And 8941 - Rockoh T3

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Last week I bought $360 (used BP price total) of Bionicle and Hero Factory used for $80 and this was in there half still in sealed bags. Was gonna flip the lot my I couldn't resist giving it all to my kids to play with.

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Posted

Anyone think I should build the crawler 9398? I am starting to get tempted...

 

I am planning on, this summer when I get time, building the Grand Prix racer and converting it to a remote controlled car. We will see how that goes.

technic series is very good.

 

And building them is sort of addictive.

 

You will want to try out the moc.

Posted

9473 - The Mines of Moria. It is a decent enough play set although I must admit of getting a tad tired with building all these Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit and other Castle related sets due to the sheer overwhelming amount of gray. Anywho, the two large backgrounds appear well enough exactly for what they were meant to be but the various play features are a little odd or simply did not work so good. For example the well in the middle of the chamber has a skeleton that is supposed to fall in when you pull out the floor bit underneath yet all it manages to accomplish is getting stuck. Here's another, the sarcophagus is a nice simple design but the feature meant to 'flip' the bonehead in there and outside just bumps him around a bit with the lid staying on. Finally, the two pillars that fall over work better when given a push of the finger instead of using the Technic lever that barely gives them a nudge in place.

Aside from the awkward play features, the Cave Troll continues to be my least favorite maxifigure of all time if anything just for that fugly face. The body and color scheme is great but I can't look at that face. Honestly, he can make any orc look like James Bond. Speaking of which, both exclusive Moria Orcs are really cool same as all the other orcs. I would say the set was worthwhile just to get the minifigures in general besides the decent selection in parts.

In the end, the set includes a nice variety of minifigures with a so-so maxifigure and a pretty good assortment of pieces ripe for castle building of your own. I will say the constant construction involving so much gray can be tedious that's for sure. Nevertheless, at a discount this was well worth the parts especially all nineteen masonry bricks and five 2x2 tiles in dark bluish gray. On average a set barely contains a single 2x2 dark bluish gray tile plus this contains the highest amount of masonry bricks in dark bluish gray out of the seven sets that currently have any to start with so this was a good buy for castle builders in my opinion.

Posted

Anyone think I should build the crawler 9398? I am starting to get tempted...

 

I am planning on, this summer when I get time, building the Grand Prix racer and converting it to a remote controlled car. We will see how that goes.

 

Yes and yes. I am tempted every week to crack open a 41999 to build it... Maybe I should get a 9398 instead to satisfy my need to build.

 

If you do convert the GP racer to remote controlled, that would be very cool.

Posted

9473 - The Mines of Moria. It is a decent enough play set although I must admit of getting a tad tired with building all these Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit and other Castle related sets due to the sheer overwhelming amount of gray. Anywho, the two large backgrounds appear well enough exactly for what they were meant to be but the various play features are a little odd or simply did not work so good. For example the well in the middle of the chamber has a skeleton that is supposed to fall in when you pull out the floor bit underneath yet all it manages to accomplish is getting stuck. Here's another, the sarcophagus is a nice simple design but the feature meant to 'flip' the bonehead in there and outside just bumps him around a bit with the lid staying on. Finally, the two pillars that fall over work better when given a push of the finger instead of using the Technic lever that barely gives them a nudge in place.

Aside from the awkward play features, the Cave Troll continues to be my least favorite maxifigure of all time if anything just for that fugly face. The body and color scheme is great but I can't look at that face. Honestly, he can make any orc look like James Bond. Speaking of which, both exclusive Moria Orcs are really cool same as all the other orcs. I would say the set was worthwhile just to get the minifigures in general besides the decent selection in parts.

In the end, the set includes a nice variety of minifigures with a so-so maxifigure and a pretty good assortment of pieces ripe for castle building of your own. I will say the constant construction involving so much gray can be tedious that's for sure. Nevertheless, at a discount this was well worth the parts especially all nineteen masonry bricks and five 2x2 tiles in dark bluish gray. On average a set barely contains a single 2x2 dark bluish gray tile plus this contains the highest amount of masonry bricks in dark bluish gray out of the seven sets that currently have any to start with so this was a good buy for castle builders in my opinion.

 

If you think the Cave Troll is fugly then it has accomplished it's mission ;)  I actually think he's one of my favorite maxifigs, currently tied with the hulk and rancor.

 

The play features are kind of dumb in this set, I ended up just modding the play features out of the well and sarcophagus since the little levers don't look very nice.  I really like the large brick built doors in this set.  If you really want to make this set shine, mount everything onto a large gray baseplate and add a few more walls, rubble, etc, really makes it look cool.

Posted

If you think the Cave Troll is fugly then it has accomplished it's mission ;) I actually think he's one of my favorite maxifigs, currently tied with the hulk and rancor.

That's true, the Cave Troll wasn't meant to win any beauty contests. Haha. I haven't gotten to Hulk's Helicarrier Escape yet but I already know The Hulk maxifigure will be awesome just from the pics on the box and internet.

The play features are kind of dumb in this set, I ended up just modding the play features out of the well and sarcophagus since the little levers don't look very nice. I really like the large brick built doors in this set. If you really want to make this set shine, mount everything onto a large gray baseplate and add a few more walls, rubble, etc, really makes it look cool.

I get the reason behind the play features but they hardly work or look decent so they would be my first choice of modifying out of the picture too. Good idea with fixing it up on a baseplate and then build the rest of the scene out. I have something else in mind altogether when I take the build apart, just not sure as to what exactly.
Posted

I started gathering up the pieces to build the 10018 Darh Maul bust. I am hoping to have 1/3 of the pieces and will ebay/bricklink the rest. Can't wait to start building.

Posted

Finished building a used 7662 MTT I got for a great price.  Missing a handful of tiles and a couple of the slopes were cracked, but I managed to find replacements for most of the parts in my spare parts bucket.  Other than that, everything was in great shape!  I never really paid much attention to the MTT in the movie, but the build was fun and it looks impressive.  I like how the extras like the little hover vehicle fit inside the main tank body.

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Posted

31010 - Treehouse, 3183 - Stephanie's Cool Convertible, & 79003 - An Unexpected Gathering. Yes, I have been super busy as well as not posting anything here for a while. Catching up, I built the main model of the Treehouse which has a lot of fun play features between a retractable ladder and pulley system perfect for the childlike theme of the set. The other two alternates are nice too although very small as you would imagine but still good. My favorite detail is the oven in the Lakeside Hut design with the best usage of an inverted 2x2 tile as the tray holding the pizza. The Barn is simple but I do like the brown frame detailing plus the crop garden.

Now I have been meaning to build a Friends set in a good while so I finally sat down and built my first one which so happens to also be the very first Friends set I purchased, Stephanie

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Posted

I did a quick build of 3930 - Stephanie's Outdoor Bakery which was as you can expect from a small polybag-esque sized set. I think the only truly unique piece here is the umbrella with a couple purple swirls on the top that reminded me of The Joker for some reason and then turns out it is available in Joker's Steamroller as a sort of wheel cover. I am glad to see the milk carton had printing on one side without a dreaded sticker in sight.

It's funny how back then when I first looked at the boxes for the Friends sets thinking those colors are some very strange choices to be placed together yet afterwards when the actual physical product is sitting before me, all I can see now is how much they pop out above everything else because of those tones with such vibrancy.

Anyway, I am in the middle of 79010 - The Goblin King Battle with just the Goblin King

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Posted

Three nights, three modulars. Not a lot of sleep but great fun!

Three nights....three modulars....one builder. Sounds like the tagline to a movie or something. Haha. Which sets were they by the way?
Guest brickcrazyhouse
Posted

the good the bad and the recently retired

Posted

79010 - The Goblin King Battle is finally completed and what do you know, it's a set with play features that actually work!

First instruction booklet has you build the three dwarves with a couple tiny bits of landscape as a sort of warm-up. Second booklet goes through the Goblin King's throne which is pretty darn big. There is a hollow area underneath with some treasure that slides outward and to the one side is a cage I guess you can spring outward. Neither feature makes sense to me but they are there and generally function at least. Last booklet is a goblin bridge which could have been a set in itself and my favorite area. You have a ladder that can be knocked over, a bridge that can get 'broken off' on one side, and a little bucket thingy for the goblin scribe to sit in and be spun around. I could have plenty of fun just with this last section.

I've already placed the dwarves in The Unexpected Gathering set I built prior around the little table which is looking great of a scene. The three goblins may be fugly but they're the cool kind of butt ugly fugly. Haha. Each one features unique torso printing which is a major plus in my book and the detail is fantastic. Now I know I said the Cave Troll was fugly but, man, the Goblin King may be even fuglier. So much that I shall call him and all other fugly maxifigures as 'BUB' or "Butt Ugly Bastard". :rofl: In all honesty, the detail of him is very good in matching the film material mixed with Lego's own sense of style. Another to note, the Goblin King seems to have an easier time standing up whereas the Cave Troll can be toppled over easily. Something about the balance is off I guess.

In the end, the set doesn't feel like a $100 set and I would not have bought the one I just finished building unless it was at a heavy discount. However, all characters minus Gandalf are exclusive to the set, there is a wide assortment of pieces in brown, gray, & black, and this is one of the few sets with a more natural looking appearance in its rock formations and such.

Well, that was the last Hobbit set I had left to put together until the new ones are released later in the year. I now just have one final item to build. It is the ultimate battle scene between good and evil. The very pinnacle of Lord of the Rings sets. Everything has lead up to this climatic ending. My hands shake with such eagerness and excitement I can practically feel my heartbeat through my eardrums. Oh, that's right. You know exactly what lies ahead. Wish me luck as I venture into the realm of supreme awesomeness as I may not be able to return....

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Posted

9474 - The Battle of Helm's Deep. Yeah, I finally got the chance to build this monster. It didn't take as long as I would have thought though but then again I have been building a lot lately which helped me get back into the ol' groove from so long ago plus my system of pouring out each of the bags into a separate sorting drawer keeps each section focused. I also built the thing backwards and by that I mean I actually started from the last model of the royal dining hall all the way back to the main build of the gatehouse. Still the whole thing took a few good hours split between a couple days.

The Helm's Deep wasn't entirely repetitive or dull despite all the mirrored spots and gray parts as there were plenty of details tossed in to keep monotony at bay like the sand green pieces placed in random spots to give it some color. There are lots of nicely curved walls about giving it fantastic depth too. I really like how all the sections utilize double Technic pin connections giving you the option of being creative with the arrangement of each section if you wish. Right now it is setup exactly as the box with two Uruk-hai Army wall sections connected on the side where the wall that gets 'blown up'. Later I will see if I can rearrange everything to where it creates an enclosed fortress.

Oh right, there are a couple of play features favorite of which is the outward exploding wall. It can be tricky getting to work properly though as the pieces are Lego and have really good clutch power even when only connected by a single stud. Ha. The other one is some catapult down at the base beside the gates that I suppose is to 'fling' a minifigure against incoming intruders. Well, it does fling the character; just not in the right direction really. It is amusing as heck I will say. Lastly there is the small catapult on top of the gatehouse for tossing 1x1 cylinders which is the same setup as the Uruk-hai Army one and works as well as any other.

To finish, this is simply an insanely kickass set and a must buy for Lord of the Rings or even regular Castle fans. The minifigures are great with a few exclusive, tons of pieces, a few interesting techniques, and a couple of fun play features. Plus it displays awesomely. Whether or not I was lucky to find this at a discount, I am super content with having this big one in my collection regardless. Now comes the part of "What else can I create from this?" :shifty:

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