Bruce Lowell (bruceywan) has taken one of the most fun old Adventurer’s sets, 5935 Island Hopper, and put his own skilled hands to recreating it for the MOCPages MocAtholon competition. The Island Hopper was always a favorite of mine in the final Adventurers setting, and Bruce’s version is all decked out with more advanced building techniques and smooth surfaces, and of course, a lot more pieces.
76008 Iron Man vs. The Mandarin: Ultimate Showdown is the smallest set of the trio of LEGO sets for the upcoming Iron Man 3 film. With only a vehicle and two minifigs, it’s clearly an action-based set. The box includes two un-numbered bags, the instructions, and the same 10-page comic as the other Iron Man 3 sets. The comic includes scenes from all three sets, and is really quite nice.
The vehicle seems to be some sort of flame-thrower armored car, and it’s driven by the big-bearded Mandarin, aka Iron Man’s new nemesis. The vehicle is pretty standard, with the flame-thrower stand holding two flick-fire missiles (where would we be without flick-fire missiles? Here’s a challenge: build a creation using only flick-fire missiles!) and being mounted on a 4×4 turntable. The rear of the vehicle does incorporate one of those multifaceted train slopes, which is a nifty under-utilized piece, so that’s cool. Beyond the missiles, though, there are no play-features in this set, so you’ll have to use your imagination. There are a few left-over pieces of the regular sort, and as usual, I’ve included a shot of the inventory page. I suspect 
the real reason that most people will buy this set, though, is for the minifigs. Both are exclusive to this set. Although a minifigure of the Mandarin appears in the Malibu Mansion Attack set, and naturally Iron Man is in all the sets, both are unique versions here. This Mandarin has a bedraggled look, with a kerchief covering whatever-that-is on his chest (here’s a picture comparing the versions). In fact, this torso looks terrific for making your own generic guerrilla fighter, since it doesn’t really have anything in the print that specifically ties it to the Mandarin or this theme. The Iron Man minifigure here is the star, though. This is my favorite of all the LEGO versions of Iron Man we’ve seen so far. This Iron Man features awesome blue eyes and a blue power circle on his chest (here’s a comparison photo between the two armor types).
With an MSRP of $12.99 USD, and 91 pieces, I would pass on this set, unless you want the minifigs. 
It’s not a great parts pack for those of you who aren’t enamored by the minifigs. On the other hand, a great many of you will thoroughly enjoy the minifigs in this set, and with the set price being so low, it’s probably cheaper to buy the whole set than attempt to buy just the minifigs on the secondary market.
Read my review of the Iron Man 3 Malibu Mansion Attack set here.
Now here’s a gorgeous bit of medieval architecture by Paul Vermeesch. Paul says this lovely seaside monastery was inspired by his deft modding of Bombur’s hair into a tonsure. The white and medium-dark flesh tones of the building give a wonderfully refreshing feeling that’s different than the gritty, disheveled look so many castle builders aim for, and the stone-work on the cliff is a mastery of the technique. Paul even took a shot of his concept sketch for the diorama, showing us a bit of his thought-process.
76007 Malibu Mansion Attack is the largest of the current round of sets for the upcoming Iron Man 3 movie, which releases May 3rd. Since this set is based on a movie that’s not out yet, this review may contain mild spoilers for the film. The set consists of a piece of Tony Stark’s seaside palace, and the Mandarin’s attack helicopter. With only 364 pieces and a US price of $39.99, I suspect we’ll see a larger set down the road.
The box art matches the other Marvel Super Heroes sets we’ve already seen, including last year’s Avengers sets, this time simply using the Iron Man 3 logo. Inside are 3 numbered bags, a large and a small instruction booklet, a sticker sheet, and an Iron Man 3 mini-comic in LEGO style. The first numbered baggie and small instruction book builds the Mandarin’s helicopter, as well as Mandarin and his accomplice. The helicopter is a pretty fantastic build, and I enjoyed it a lot more than most of the LEGO helicopters of similar size I’ve built. For several years now, LEGO has been getting increasingly more bold with their use of studs-out building, which is a terrific thing. This helicopter is a great example, being pretty much 
ringed-about with slopes pointing out. Of course, no set is complete without flick-fire missiles, and this heli should be able to take on even Iron Man, since it’s equipped with four. I did find it odd that both of the black lightsabre handles in the rotors point the same fixed direction, so that when they’re spun, one is always pointed “backwards.” Both minifigs here are pretty cool. The Mandarin has dark green robes with olive pants. Oddly, he has a double-sided face with two mouth expressions, but neither are visible underneath the bushy black beard. The accomplice has a glow in the dark head, and one side has blood vessels prominently outlined. I’m not sure exactly what’s that’s supposed to represent, but I have no doubt it will be clear once I’ve seen the movie.
Bag two isn’t terribly interesting on its own. It builds a piece of the mansion, as well as Tony Stark, Iron Man, Pepper Potts, and that robot. Now, if you’re wondering why there’s both a Tony Stark and an Iron Man, since they’re ostensibly one and the same, well, I think there are two answers. First, Tony’s mansion needs to include a non-suited-up Stark, but you also can’t have an Iron Man set without Iron Man. And secondly, according to the box art and the comic, that’s not Tony Stark in the Iron Man suit, that’s Pepper Potts. She’s apparently piloting the suit in that scene from the trailer where Mandarin blows Stark’s place sky-high. The suit also includes a plain-white head for use in it’s “off” mode, so you can have all your other 
minifigs complete to play with too. Also, it’s worth noting that this is a different Iron Man minifig than has been in any of the previous sets. This is presumably the upgraded armor, with a lot more gold, including pearly gold hands.
Bag three of course merely finishes out the mansion. The mansion is really quite nice. The designers have done a great job of capturing the look of the mansion without needing to get terribly large. The mansion includes a 
little kitchen area, and then some techy-goodness for Tony Stark to dabble with. There’s a little flinger bit, but I can’t figure out exactly what it’s suppose to do. I guess it’s just part of the mansion falling to pieces as Mandarin blows holes in it. Then there’s a window that pops out, which works quite nicely. And finally there’s a turn-table with cool displays on it for Stark to stand on and pretend he’s Tom Cruise in Minority Report. Sadly, all the displays are stickers, which I didn’t apply. In fact, the only printed pieces in the entire set are minifigs. I didn’t notice any new parts, and the only piece that was new to me was the 6×6 round plate, though Bricklink shows that’s been in a few other sets already. I’ve included a shot of the inventory pages, for those who are curious.
Overall, I think this is a very nice set. 
The part selection is a good mix between larger structural elements and small bits, and the five minifigs are a big draw. The helicopter is cool, and the mansion looks nice, and incorporates a lot of playability. The one thing I’d have liked is perhaps a little more of a roof to the mansion, or maybe a very small piece of cliff underneath it, to give the building more context. This is a good set for the price.
There are some structures you’d think just wouldn’t translate well into LEGO, and Superman’s frigid Fortress of Solitude, with its towering icicles seems like it’s one of those things. But then a talented individual, in this case Chris Melby, comes along and builds a jaw-dropping version in LEGO. This cathedral of ice is simply gorgeous. I particularly love that Chris laid it out in the shape of the iconic Superman diamond.
We’ve been on something of a rover kick here lately, due in large part to the enormous outpouring of top-notch vehicles built for Febrovery. But our love of rovers extends past merely blogging about them, and so I had to squeak in here at the last second and build a rover of my own. So here’s my Space Maintenance Rover, a multi-purpose utilitarian truck outfitted with a lift-arm and long-range communications dish, and of course, a Space-thingy to sit beside it.
That is, if there’s lots of these cute little guys running about. Here’s a little model by Tyler Sky that’s basically nothing but a giant grey greeble, and yet it looks terrific and cohesive. It’s a Lunar Dust Dispersion Rover, or a street sweeper, as we terrestrials call them.
Not even those Christmas ornament balls with the snowflake pattern, as Simon Liu shows with this great addition to the FebRovery initiative.
You don’t have to build big to build awesome. This sweet ride by Brian Kescenovitz is a marvel of cool techniques used at an incredibly small scale.
Who says all big spaceships need to be covered with greebles to look great? This gorgeous space Destroyer by Dutch builder Red Spacecat employs clean lines and smooth surfaces, and it looks fantastic. Don’t let that fool you, though; it’s still packed with plenty of details, like the hidden torpedo ports.
Here’s wishing you a Happy Valentine’s day from us here at The Brothers Brick, featuring this fantastic shadow heart by Ben Pillen.
Here’s a great Hobbit diorama for you. This scene by Legopard depicts the tricky situation Thorin’s company find themselves in, as they’re backed to the edge of a precipice before being rescued by eagles, which is also the subject of the official set Attack of the Wargs. Legopard’s eagle is a true standout here, with some really terrific sculpting, and the whole diorama conveys the film’s scene excellently.
