Kaminoan, Arealight, and MMCB (collectively K.A.M), announces a massive customization contest that calls for the creation of a combatant minifigure unit for the Clone Wars. The bounty is massive and includes custom items from the artists and special collectables such as a sterling silver clone helmet and a poster autographed by Matt Busch.
Check out the contest announcement for rules and details. You have until the end of February to compete in this exciting event!
UPDATE: Nearly all of the LEGO sets featured in this post are now available, including LEGO Space Police, Castle, and Agents 2.0.
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LEGO fans don’t normally get an official look at third-quarter LEGO set releases until Toy Fair New York in mid-February. However, CTV technology journalist Kris Abel visited the Canadian Toy & Hobby Fair in Toronto this past weekend, posting a full run-down of the late 2009 LEGO releases.
We’ve confirmed with The LEGO Group that this is official. Although Kris Abel reports that many of the sets and box art are still prototypes, his photos of the sets themselves are pretty good. In keeping with our new policy, then, here goes…
First up,
5972 Container Heist opens up to reveal a massive cannon:
If you can’t see the photos, click the links at the bottom of this post.
5974 Galactic Enforcer has classic (dare I say Classic?) lines:
The alien criminals in the LEGO Space Police sets have several new, unique pieces:
In LEGO Star Wars news, Endor gets a bunker (8038), the Y-Wing gets a facelift (8037), the Neimoidians get their own shuttle (with Nute Gunray minifig?), and 7749 Echo Base includes a first-ever LEGO tauntaun:
LEGO Power Miners sport a larger rock monster and a very large drilling platform:
The LEGO Indiana Jones assortment includes a boat chase, a pair of fighters, and a new Elsa Schneider minifig:
On the LEGO Castle front, the trolls get their castle and the undead make their return in 7079 Drawbridge Defense:
Finally, LEGO has announced MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, with a new color sensor.
You can read all of Kris Abel’s coverage on his blog:
We’ll expect even more complete coverage at Toy Fair New York in a few weeks from the usual suspects. In the meantime, share your thoughts in the comments.
In our first Brothers Brick exclusive review, we bring you a look at the newest LEGO Star Wars set: 7752 Count Dooku’s Solar Sailer, scheduled for release in February 2009. This limited edition set first appeared at a few Toys R Us stores this week, marked for sale at $59.99. It includes 385 pieces and 4 minifigures, most notably the new Count Dooku.
Oveview:
$60 for 385 pieces is a very steep price and will deter many from purchasing this set. However, the remarkably well-designed Count Dooku minifig and the set’s limited edition bearing will spur others to purchase it right away. In my following remarks, I will list the qualities of Count Dooku’s Solar Sailer pertinent to builders of all ages, collectors and sellers.
Building experience:
This is a simple and straightforward set to build without any awkward connections or fragile sections. Only a few Technic parts for the missle firing mechanism interrupt the entirely System-based build. Symmetry and repetition are displayed on the folding wings and basic SNOT techniques are used effectively to achieve the overall appearance, making the build slightly more fun the average set.
Play features:
Overall, an average set of play features, nothing new or revolutionary. The push-fire missles are weak as usual.
Parts:
If you’re buying this set for parts, something is wrong. 7752 offers a very low parts per price ratio and do not contain notably unique pieces except for the two light bluish gray bubble windscreens. A few dark tan pieces and 1X6 tiles may be useful; there are no notably unique brown parts. In the end, I find the stickers to be the most interesting piece; their neutral bluish gray tones make them applicable on a variety of creations. An image of the parts list can be found here.
Collectibility:
Star Wars minifig collectors will be pouring over the new Count Dooku, and rightfully so since this unique minifig is likely to have its only appearance in this set. The pilot droid is also a unique minifig, but unlike the Count, it can be made with LEGO pieces from other sets, but I admit that the use of a skeleton leg for the head is pretty clever. The limited edition bearing marks this set as an exclusive to only the store that carries it (in this case Toys R Us) and LEGO stores/LEGO Shop at Home. In addition, this set may have a short lived production frame and may be sold out within a shorter time period than the average LEGO set. For collectors, keeping a new copy of the set may be a good investment.
Display:
As a set for display, the Solar Sailer lacks any dynamic visual appeal except when its wings are expanded, but in this position, the model cannot sit upright (the left side photo above makes use of a temporary support). Even in its collapsed-wing version, the model either tilts forward or backwards and is extremely difficult to balance as in this picture.
Resale value:
Not all of us are builders or even collectors, just ask the sellers on Bricklink and Ebay. This set may be sold in several forms, from MISB (mint in sealed box) to parted out with minifigs. The Count Dooku minifig will fetch a hefty sale price of at least $20 and possibly over $30 while the Magna droid guards currently go for about $10 each. Once the set is out of production, you can expect both its MISB value and minifig value to rise to more than 200% of the set’s retail price, talk about a lot of money!
Concluding remarks:
For a set with limited positive attributes, it sure has a lot of downers to discourage buyers. Most obvious is the heavy pricetag, but less so are the uninteresting selection of parts. Nevertheless, a few redeeming features like the unique Count Dooku minifig and decent collectibility value make this set more geared towards collectors than builders. Unless you really want the Solar Sailer, there are other sources to spent $60 of your income or allowance money.
For more pictures, see the full gallery here.
Moko‘s got it going on with the clones…
Check out this fun gallery of clone minifigs with non-star wars LEGO accessories.
This set is generating quite a bit of discussion in our old post about 2009 LEGO Star Wars box art, so now that it’s up on LEGO.com (though not yet available to order), I thought I’d let everyone else know.
Here’s 7752 Count Dooku’s Solar Sailer:
And the direct link for those of you unable to click through the picture:
http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Product.aspx?p=7752
Mark Borlase‘s most recent revision to his colossal 5’X10’ Hoth base diorama is a marvel to behold. The entire display consists of 55,000 to 60,000 pieces and has cool features such as 50 real lights and a remote controlled mechanism that deploys troops from the AT-ATs.
The entire creation took over 4 years in the making and consumed about $3000 (that’s a lot of white bricks!). This creation won the recent Star Wars building challenge and was featured in the official LEGO Magazine. Looks like hard work paid off, congratulations Mark!
It seems pretty official that we’ll be seeing Count Dooku’s Solar Sailer hitting the shelves soon according to a catalog scan now appearing in multiple Brickshelf galleries. The release is marked February on the scan.
Flickr user Larry Lars presents the nativity scene with a twist, adding Star Wars characters to the mix. Hilarity ensued.
FBTB announces a much overdue Star Wars contest since their previous popular Steam Wars contest almost a year ago. Nevertheless, the new contest looks to be an exciting one, where participants must add a touch of the holidays into a Star Wars vehicle or build a vignette that blends both themes.
The contest ends on December 20th and there are prizes for first and second place winners in both categories. Check out more details here and start building! Do or do not, there is no try ;)
Creator of incredible works including the Invisible Hand and Apocalypsis, Mark Kelso unveils his latest masterpiece in LEGO – a variation of a concept ship from the Star Wars Extended Universe called the Rusty Ferret. This stunning creation measures 140 studs long (over 3.5ft) and is just a beauty to behold. Check out some of the work in progress shots here.
Make no mistake, when combined with Mark’s excellent photo-editing skills, you’d have to look twice to see that it’s actually LEGO.
And now, Mark will auction off this priceless creation starting at one hundred billion dollars. I’d buy it if I had the money.
