The Lone Ranger Stagecoach Escape - 79108 LEGO Review

The Lone Ranger movie is due out in theaters next week and I figured it was finally time to get around to building one of the LEGO sets from the movie line that have been sitting off to the side for a few weeks now. So far, I have picked up the Stagecoach Escape and Constitution Train. I'll be reviewing the train here in a few days.

The Stagecoach was the first set of the line that jumped out at me as a must have. In terms of western vehicles, you can't really get much more iconic than a red wagon being pulled by a team of horses. Add in the fact that you get a set packed full of figures and features, and it was hard to come up with a reason not to add this set to my collection.

Iron Man 3 Malibu Mansion Attack - 76007 LEGO Review

Capping off my reviews of the latest wave of Iron Man LEGO sets is a look at #76007, Iron Man: Malibu Mansion Attack.This 364 piece set is the largest of the Iron Man 3 movie tie-ins and carries a US retail price of $39.99. It also features several exclusive minifigures, including Pepper Potts.

So, let's talk about whether this set is worth plunking down $40 of your hard earned money.

Iron Man Extremis Sea Port Battle - 76006 LEGO Review

Next up on our tour of Iron Man 3 LEGO sets, we have the Extremis Sea Port Battle. This 195 piece set has a US retail price of $19.99 and includes three minifigures, making it a fairly reasonable value for a licensed set at that price point. Of course, it also features both Iron Man and War Machine, making it even more appealing to the Super Heroes fans out there.

This is the middle-sized set in the Iron Man 3 movie line. You can read my first review of the Iron Man vs. the Mandarin set here.

Iron Man vs. The Mandarin - 76008 LEGO Review

It's been awhile since I sat down and actually decided to review a set I was building. It's also been awhile since I built a retail release set as well. I've been a little tied up with a larger MOC for Brick World-Chicago this summer. I decided to give the latest round of Iron Man 3 sets a try, after I quickly pounced on them when they were listed on Amazon last week. This is the first of three reviews, one for each set in the line.

We start with the smallest LEGO set from the line, Iron Man vs. The Mandarin: Ultimate Showdown (76008). Let's get down to business.

Everything you wanted to know about Legends of CHIMA

The apparent heir to Ninjago is making its debut on store shelves across the US, with the new LEGO Legends of CHIMA sets now available through multiple retailers. I have yet to encounter these in person yet, but wanted to jot down some quick first impressions of this new theme. Also, the microsite on LEGO.com is now up and packed with features.

As I talked about previously, these figures remind me quite a bit of a minor toy from my youth known as Battle Beasts. These humanized animals were all about fighting each other and served different factions that were elemental-based. I still believe they have quite a bit of common ground with the Chima theme.

For background, here's the basic setup on the Chima universe:

Zombie Chauffeur Coffin Car 30200 - Review

It's kind of funny that the only two Monster Fighters sets I own are the smallest ones available. I already reviewed the Ghost polybag that's sold at Target (if you can still find them on the shelves), and now I want to take a closer look at the Coffin Car.

I managed to find them on the Toys R Us website during the brief period it was available online. Thankfully, I also found a Christmas present on sale to help get to the free shipping threshold. My local TRU is a bit of a drive for fishing expeditions on the exclusive poly sets, so I'm very happy when I can get my hands on them online. Even if the TRU price is $4.99 on a pretty small set.

The Battle of Helm's Deep 9474 - Review

"You said that this fortress will never fall while your men defend it. They still defend, that have died defending it"

-Aragorn to King Théoden

I have to admit that my first impression of LEGO's rendition of Helm's Deep was that the set was overpriced and too small to truly capture this impressive fortress. Much like most of the sets in the Lord of the Rings line, it did not seem capable of showing the grand majesty of the building described in the books and seen in the movies. While I still think the price is a bit high, I have changed my mind about the quality of the set itself.

Thanks to a rather steep discount on Amazon, which dropped the price under $100, I went ahead and ordered a copy of The Battle of Helm's Deep. I have not built a castle in quite some time and the banner set of the Lord of the Rings line seemed like a good way to revisit this type of building.

Monster Fighters Ghost 30201 - Review

I stopped by Target on Friday to see if I could get lucky with the new Monster Fighters polybag and was happy to find an end cap fully stocked. Street date on this is supposed to be September 9th, but I guess they pushed up the Halloween reset a little early at this store.

Polybags are really growing on me as nice little single shot sets that are fun to collect and satisfy that urge to just build something. This set is a perfect example of what they have to offer. It's also a good Halloween decoration that I can leave out for the next two months without it being very obvious.

Building the Batman Tumbler from 7888

The release of the latest Batman movie this summer had me in the mood to own a Tumbler. Unfortunately, I'm about four years late to the party to get the original set, unless I want to cough up the several hundred dollars it apparently goes for now. That's not an option for what's basically an impulse project on my current budget and collection goals.

Thankfully, a kind Bricksetter went to the trouble of going through the parts list for the set and identifying what is needed to build just the Tumbler vehicle. A little bit of want list construction on BL, and I was on my way with a few orders.

Desert Skiff 9496 - Review

Boba Fett. What else matters?

I seem to be on a roll this week and have been fitting in a little extra building time. Tonight, I decided to tackle one of the new Star Wars LEGO entries, set 9496: Desert Skiff. I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan and grew up with the original trilogy. As I've mentioned before, I try to avoid going crazy on the theme just because I've missed so much and I don't want to build the urge to get them all. The modular bug is bad enough. Return of the Jedi was the first movie I ever went to see in the theater though, so it was really hard to resist this set once I knew it was coming out. Also, it comes with Boba Fett.

Gandalf Arrives 9469 - Review

My birthday was earlier this month and my wife surprised me with the gift of LEGO. She bought me the two smallest sets from the Lord of the Rings line, which I had been holding off on buying any of until they start going on sale. I'm not one to complain if someone else is buying the bricks though.

LEGO set 9469 Gandalf Arrives is the smallest entry in the first wave of LotR sets. Inside the box you'll find two bags, a loose brown horse, and the instruction book. My book was creased, which seems to be pretty common with other copies out there. It's not a "hard" crease, but it still kind of stinks to open up the box and automatically find some damage to the instructions. I guess I'm just getting spoiled by larger sets that have started putting a piece of bagged cardboard in there to keep in the instructions fresh and clean looking.

Batmobile polybag 30161 - Review

Thanks to a very kind and generous Bricksetter, I was able to get my hands on a couple of copies of the Batmobile polybags. So far, these have only been available during the recent Sun promotion over in the UK. I eagerly look forward to the day when some US publication gives out free polys with the purchase of a cheap paper.

My polys arrived the other day and I just could not wait to build the Batmobile. It's obviously super small, but I was looking forward to seeing how this one would come together.

R2-D2 UCS 10225 - Review

Big droid, little droid.

I was going to build Town Hall while I waited for Cafe Corner parts to come in, but the UCS R2-D2 I picked up after working the LEGO Store grand opening in Milwaukee was calling my name. While I love Star Wars, I have somehow avoided building anything from that theme so far. I'm not sure why, but if I had to guess, it's probably because I'm afraid of the path it could set me on. I've missed almost a decade worth of sets and it would be hard to resist the urge to go back and get favorites I have missed.

R2-D2 convinced me to give them a try though. Due to his size, he feels more like a sculpture than a regular ship or playset. The fact that I had a chance to get him at a discount pretty much guaranteed that I needed to have him as well. Also, it's freaking R2-D2, probably one of the coolest robots in all of science fiction history.

Superman Vs Power Armor Lex 6862 - Review

The other night, I actually had some free time. So I decided I would treat myself to something out of my stash of sets from the recent LEGO store binge. It was late, so I was not in the mood to start on one of the modulars. I wanted to BUILD, which means small set time!

I went with set 6862, Superman Vs. Power Armor Lex. I have to admit this is one of the sets that kind of attracted me back out of my dark ages. Superman was a big hero of mine growing up. I'm pretty sure I wore a Halloween costume my mom made for about three years straight. For one of those years, getting me to take the cape off was pretty much impossible.

Shuttle Expedition 10231 - Review

Shuttle Expedition - 10231

Classic space was one of my favorite themes growing up. I still have several of those sets (which I need to clean and inventory), although I was not too enthused by the latest Alien Conquest version of the theme. When I saw the Creator space shuttle I knew it must be mine. I just finished it up tonight and it's now on display.

It's really a fun set, although I was a little shocked at all of the Technic elements that make up the piece count. There were so many little pins, axles, and other little bits that it sometimes was kind of a pain sorting through it all to find something. I understand the necessity of it of course. Many of the finer details of the design would be impossible without them being used. This is the first Creator set I've put together, so I'm going to assume this is pretty common in a lot of the larger sets that are out there now.