We’re taking a break from reviewing all those Star Wars sets to catch a look at something a little closer to home: a good old fashioned racing truck. 60115 4×4 Off Roader hit stores in December, and is currently available for $19.99. It has 176 pieces.
While we’ve largely focused on the “good guy” sets like 75102 Poe’s X-wing Fighter from The Force Awakens since their release in September, our coverage would be incomplete if we didn’t also review “bad guy” sets like 75101 First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter. The set includes 517 pieces and 4 minifigs, with a retail price of $69.99, though it has been consistently 20% off at $55.99 on Amazon since nearly its release last September.
Now that we’re nearly a month after the movie’s release, I will reference SPOILERS in this review. Again, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
I’ll share one non-movie spoiler, though: This is an unexpectedly awesome set — you need it.
Contrary to the resource-strapped organization in The Force Awakens, the First Order in the LEGO Star Wars universe certainly doesn’t lack stormtroopers, helped along by new releases like the 75132 First Order Battle Pack, which accompanies the 75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack we also reviewed recently. This battle pack has 88 pieces, the usual 4 minifigs, and retails for the normal $12.99.
We’ve been so focused on LEGO Star Wars sets from The Force Awakens that you’d think we’d forgotten there was an Original Trilogy thirty-odd years ago (I deny the existence of any Prequel Trilogy). For their January 2016 assortment, LEGO hasn’t neglected Episodes IV, V, and VI though. Although still a challenge to find here in North America, LEGO sent us a copy of 75137 Carbon Freezing Chamber from The Empire Strikes Back and I’m pleased to bring you this review.
The set includes 231 pieces and three minifigs. Once available, we expect this set to retail for around $30 in the US (it’s £19.99/29.99€ in Europe).
As we noted when the first official pictures of January 2016 LEGO Star Wars sets appeared back in December, the interior of Cloud City on Bespin hasn’t been depicted in a LEGO set since the rare 10123 Cloud City was released in 2003.
Although there still seems to be a supply chain issue here in North America, where new 2016 LEGO sets are rather hard to come by, our friends in Billund have sent us another batch of sets that we’ll be reviewing here on The Brothers Brick over the next week or two. LEGO continues to expand its range of minifig-centric Battle Pack sets with 75133 Rebel Alliance Battle Pack, alongside the 75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack I reviewed over the weekend. The set has 101 pieces, including 4 minifigs, with a price of $12.99.
Series 15 of LEGO’s incredibly popular Collectible Minifigures line is starting to hit stores. And if you’re going to find a full set, you’ll need to either buy a full case (which can get very pricey), or stand in the store feeling the blind packs to determine what’s inside. If you opt for the latter route, we’re here to help you get started with this feeling guide. We’ve already done a full in-depth Series 15 minifigure review, so here we’ll just cover the important things you’ll want to know when standing in the store with your fingers on a blind pack.
The Arvo Brothers (Ramon & Amador Alfaro Marcilla) have recently released their second book called Alien Project. It costs €26 + shipping and can be purchased via the Arvo Brothers website. The main bulk of the book contains detailed instructions for building their fantastic Alien figure and its base. There are also chapters explaining the inspiration behind the project and a rare insight into the development of a model of this calibre. Below is my review of the book.
As part of their January 2016 assortment, LEGO released a number of new minifig-centered battle pack sets as army builders for The Force Awakens, including 75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack. The set has 112 pieces, including 4 minifigs, with a price of $12.99.
There really aren’t spoilers to worry about with this review. Still, I’ve managed to write what are probably far too many words for such a small set like this, so hit the jump.
The January 2016 LEGO sets continue to arrive on our doorstep, so we continue our flurry of new set reviews with 75139 Battle on Takodana. This new set from The Force Awakens was released on January 1st and retails for $59.99.
As I did when reviewing 75140 Resistance Troop Transporter and other recent LEGO Star Wars sets, I’ll bury the full review under the jump, but I WILL be referencing spoilers in this review. If you’re reading a LEGO Star Wars set review about a set from The Force Awakens nearly three weeks after the movie was released, I think it’s safe to assume you’ve seen the move.
If not, SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
LEGO’s new Nexo Knights line has launched and is finally available. We’ve already reviewed two of the medium-sized sets from this line, but some of the little sets intrigued me. Each of the named characters has an Ultimate version, available as an individually boxed set for $10 USD. Part counts range between 65 and 101. Six characters are available now, and at least three more are in the pipeline.
I decided to start with 70331 Ultimate Macy and 70332 Ultimate Aaron.
In addition to 21028 New York City (which I reviewed here a couple of weeks ago), LEGO has also just released 21027 Berlin and 21026 Venice as part of a trio of new city skyline sets.
In contrast to the $60 price tag for NYC, both Berlin and Venice retail for $29.99, and I’ll be reviewing these two smaller sets together today.
Happy New Year! LEGO sent us 75827 Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters, and I am pleased to end the year by giving you this review. This set, available January 1, 2016, has 4,634 pieces and retails for $349.99. It features the Firehouse and eight minifigures and four small ghost figures, including Slimer.
