The dark side of the brick

With some regret, I finally took apart one of my favourite sets: the 2018 Betrayal At Cloud City ( 75222 ).  For me, this is a game-changer from Lego: the move into making sets aimed squarely at adults, complete with a "master builder" theme.  Arguably, the Ewok Village and possibly the rightly-maligned Assault on Hoth are precursors in this theme but both of them are primarily play sets.  This one has elements of play to satisfy any 10 yr old but the overwhelming aim is to make a set which looks amazing. Firstly, it rocks in at 2812 parts and 21 minifigs (was this a record up to this point? I think it was).  You get a super-cool mid-sized Slave I and the only proper twin-pod cloud car since 2002(!).   But that's just where it starts: you get so much detail, faithfully recreating the art deco vibe of Cloud City.  All the key scenes are captured in a really compact space. I have to briefly mention the original Cloud City, which was a pretty cool set for...

A few weeks back, I took apart the collection of Jedi Starfighters .  As a collection, I really appreciated the different design details for each Jedi's unique decoration.  A few weeks on, I'm now onto what Lego typically refers to as the "Jedi Interceptor".  In full-on lore, the terms "starfighter" and "interceptor" seem somewhat interchangeable but these are models of the Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor .  Smaller than the "starfighter", it apparently packed more firepower and is faster.  So, I know which one I'd want in a fight! Actually, I am much less keen on the interceptor than the starfighter, as a Lego model.  Maybe it's just that all of them are pretty similar?  Over 15 years, Lego really hasn't innovated very much with the design - the same hexagonal flags as wings and - almost - the same cockpit canopy (on closer inspection, there are some very subtle changes to the print design).  And there's not the varia...

Today I've gotten to Cad Bane's speeder ( 8128 ).  This is a set from Lego Star Wars' 2nd phase (one day I'll write up my contention that there were broadly 3 phases), with a wide selection of bricks used to good effect and the "large face" minifigs from that time.   I'm not a massive fan of the set: it's somewhat simplistic and has limited play features.  That said, the underside has more detail than is usual for a set of this type and there are some unique minifigs (though not Cad Bane himself as he also comes with the 8028 Turbo Tank). Overall, 6 out of 10.

Final post of the day... lots to catch up on, it seems.  Next off the shelf is the Droid Commander set from 2019.  I eagerly purchased this straight off as the concept looked really interesting and I was keen to see how it actually worked out in practice. What you get is enough bricks to build three droids: a really nicely detailed R2-D2, a pretty good Teal gonk droid and an afterthought of an imperial mouse droid.  Plus a number of random parts to build into targets and implements.  And a single control unit that you have to swap between droids. No instructions, though: they come with the app.  Which is where I started to get a bit bogged down.  I'm generally a pretty fast builder and the app wanted me to do one piece at a time before I could move to the next.  I spent the whole time pressing the "next" button which was pretty frustrating. You can also only build the R2 unit first and have to leave the rest of the parts bagged up until you've passed e...

I've been trying to clear some shelves on one side of the cupboard of Lego because I need the space for my wedge plates, which are currently in a whole range of places.  Yesterday I took apart the Saturn V rocket ( 21309 ) which had been sat at the back of said shelf for some years (probably nearly 5 at a guess) as I think it's the set that has been made up for the longest.  In front of that was my collection of Slave I sets. By my reckoning, excluding the UCS edition, there are 4 "large" versions and 3 smaller ones.  The oldest is 7144 from way back in 2000.  Dating from the days of limited brick pallettes (both types cand colours), this one rocks a green and brown vibe.  It's actually a pretty similar size to the latest version ( 75312 ) which is now renamed "Boba Fett's Starship" presumably in an attempt to be politically correct and the version that came with Betrayal at Cloud City ( 75222 ).  And the old 2000 edition only has a tiny 166 bricks!...

Last weekend saw me deconstruct 75192 but this week seems to have gone by without much Legoing.  That's perhaps not quite true as I bought most of the parts for two MOCs which I'll finish off and build at some point in the next couple of weeks. However, tonight's challenge is to deconstruct the three largest non-UCS TIE fighters:  9492 from 2012 with 413 parts 75101 (First Order Special Forces TIE) from 2015 with 530 parts 75211 (Imperial TIE fighter) from 2018 with 519 parts All of these look and feel quite similar, mainly due to the fact that they all share the same basic wing design.  As such, they're all exactly the same height and depth.  That said, they are all very slightly different widths, with each slightly wider than the previous iteration. They all come with excellent detail packed in to a relatively small number of bricks and interestingly the 2018 set returns to the old printed 4x4 hatch dish that hadn't featured for years.  Equally, all have ex...

Many years ago, I did an engineering undergraduate degree and my closest contemporary through all the different options was Matt.  We share a love of science fiction and, as adults, a rediscovered passion for Lego.  He claims that he's trying to educate his daughters but I doubt that they share his passion for the biggest and most complex technic sets.  I pretend no such excuses and freely admit that this is my own mid-life crisis aversion tactic. A while back, Matt whatsapped me a photo of the lime green Lambo Sian ( 42115 ) and told me that it was by far the better build when compared to the Chiron.  I'm somewhat behind the times on these sets - I typically wait until I can get a deal which is at least 35% off but eventually, I got the Sian back before Christmas.  It was my plan to make it over the Christmas vacation but in the end we did much less travelling than expected and once I was home, I settled into deconstruction.  A long weekend away in late Ja...

As I've not been blogging much of late, I've missed talking about a couple of builds.  First up is 75310 : Duel on Mandalore.  One of the smaller sets of 2021 - indeed barring the Falcon microfighter, I think this is the smallest regular set.  With only 147 pieces you expect limited playability and detail and what you get is therefore not a surprise.   The best bit of this is clearly the two minifigs, especially the unique Darth Maul.   Next up is Darth Vader's Meditation Chamber ( 75296 ).  This one took a while for me to get - seemed to be out of stock on the Lego website for ages so I eventually got it from Amazon.  This is probably the most SNOT set I think I've ever seen from Lego: there are some studs visible on the outside of the meditation chamber itself but certainly all of the floor area is entirely free of studs.  Which is unfortunate for the redoubtable General Veers.  Otherwise, I really like this set.

My pace of posting has massively slowed down since the first half of the year... though taking Lego apart and putting it in plastic bags isn't anywhere near as exciting to talk about as building it is.  This week, however, I've gone back to building - not that I have anywhere to put my new build it turns out.  My house is in disarray as I have new windows fitted in most rooms and my nephews are coming to stay next week which will cause further havoc.  Hmm. Anyway, my build for the week was the much delayed UCS republic gunship ( 75309 ).  I've not rushed it but it has taken me 4 nights of building and turns out to be 3292 bricks of typical incredibleness.  I really like all of the proper UCS sets and this is no exception.     The set is massive - it certainly compares to the ISDs and Falcons in terms of sheer scale.  Here's another photo with the old minifig scale gunships for comparison: It's also nicely designed with a robust feel and large...

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything but I've been busy doing enough deconstructions to move all Lego off the floor of my study before I turned the underfloor heating on.  My spreadsheet tells me that I'm 24% of the way through the whole lot so after 5 months, I had better revise my estimate on how long it will take me to get all the way there.  One other thing I need to revise is my estimate on how many boxes and ziplock bags I'm going to need... I bought 50 cardboard shoeboxes (the ones with pull out drawers) but over 30 of them are already full, in addition to the Really Useful and Ikea boxes I already had.  Hmm. Anyway, what's been deconstructed that I've not already blogged about... first off was the majority of the Droid fighters, including: Droid fighter 7111 Vulture droid from 7660 Vulture droid 7751 Vulture droid 75041 Hyena droid bomber 8016 The only one of this ilk still made up is the 2005 vulture droid from 75256.  These aren't my fav...

Barring a couple of the Y-wings and some of the Jedi interceptors, there isn't an awful lot of yellow in the Star Wars cannon, for some reason.  The big exception is the Naboo starfighter which is pretty much defined by its yellowness.   I will be open that this was never my favourite vehicle: it comes from my least favourite Star Wars film and is noted for being piloted by a very irksome Anakin Skywalker.  I think they wanted it to be beautiful and streamlined but I feel it misses on this, even in the film.  The Lego versions do their best to try and capture the flowing lines but are hampered by the brick nature.  As such, I've never been a fan of these. Over the years, Lego have released 5 minifig-sized versions, albeit one of them not including any minifigs and being (just about) part of the UCS series. Way back in 1999, one of the first SW sets was the "Naboo Fighter" ( 7141 ).  For its time, it was pretty good but, in my humble opinion, it's not r...

It's getting colder and I want to turn on my underfloor heating... which means that I need to clear the floor of the Lego cave.  Most stuff is on shelves but I have a couple of sets that fell apart while I was doing my inventory and video of the whole lot.  One of these was the Pasaana speeder chase ( 75250 ) from 2019.   I'm often ambivalent about the sets which comprise several small vehicles and a bit of random scenery.  I tend to the view that they miss on all fronts barring perhaps some playability.  However, this set actually has some really nice design features and I find myself actually quite liking it. The colours are pretty startling and definitely not traditional SW grey: you get plenty of red, some sand blue and the odd bit of medium blue thrown in.  You also get some nice minifigs - the two stormtroopers are unique to this set.  Both speeders are very nicely realised with lots of asymmetric detail and I even like the random tool shelt...

If anyone ever reads these posts, they'll get the sense that I've been sorting out all my smaller sets.  It's getting to autumn and I'm going to have to turn the underfloor heating on soon and I therefore want to get all my Lego off the floor.  Apart from a couple of random sets, the majority of what's on the floor is the smaller sets in boxes.  That's how it rolls! So, today's post is about the TRU sets - released typically as in-store builds at Toys R Us.  As a kid we used to take a yearly trip to Birmingham and the highlight was always the pre-Christmas shop at TRU on High St.  However, the Brum store closed down years ago and TRU shut up shop in the UK a few years ago now.  So, I can't say I've been in one since about 1992... and therefore all the sets here are rebuilds and I've only done the ones which are not duplicates of other sets.   The TRU in-store builds are not the best Lego sets by any means.  Most are pretty naff, with only a c...

So, a week on and I've now finished deconstructing and sorting my battle packs.  Work has also kept me busy in the evenings so I've had less chance for legoing.  But... on to the next sub-theme: the magazine gifts.  I am not even going to bother trying to count or describe all of these so this "review" is going to be thematic. Back in 2015, Lego launched another sales avenue with comics aimed squarely at the sub-10 market.  Each magazine comes with one or more "gifts" though really you're paying for the Lego and the magazine is secondary.  This is clear as the price varies from month to month, depending on how many "gifts" you get and their complexity.  I've got several years' worth of magazines but I can't say I've actually read any of them.   I've only ever made up the "gifts" that are ships or scenes - the minifigs have all stayed safely in their polybags to maintain value.  As a result, what you see below are p...

Back in 2007, Lego started something new with the release of two "battle packs".  The first was the Droids BP ( 7654 ) which came with a mini tank and an STAP and 7 minifigs.  And I have a soft spot for this one as my girlfriend (now wife) bought it for me for Christmas that year.  This one didn't quite set the mould but the next one, the Clone Troopers BP ( 7655 ) had what is now the standard 4 figs.   Two a year were pretty common but there was a brief increase to 3 and then 4 around 2015/16/17.  It's worth noting that at this point, the "battle pack" label was dropped for a few years and the sets I think conform to the BP mould are starred (they were generally called "troopers").  In total I think there are 36... though none for 2021 as yet! The BP sets range from 58 parts (the Clone Troopers one) up to 125 parts (Bounty Hunters BP from 2017) with an average that looks to be around 100 parts.  You now typically get 4 minifigs and some sort of s...