Tuesday, March 15, 2011

LEGO Harry Potter #4737 Quidditch Match Review

This will be a short review as there is not much picture to take.

Theme: Harry Potter
Name: Quidditch Match
S/N: #4737
Year: 2010
Pieces: 153
Minifig: 5
Price: RM124.90, SGD49.90, USD19.99, GBP20.99

Box
The front of the box the the box art where they are competing with each other while on the lower left shows the minifigs and their names. The top side of the box shows the actual minifigs scale of all the minifigs together with their names while the back of the box shows a playability in this set and different box art.

box
box1 box2

Content
Inside this big box contains three packet of bricks, three loose gold rubber tube and a instruction booklet that is use to guide you.

content instructions

To view the instruction, please visit HERE.

Accessories
There are quite a number of broom included in this set and also there is a trophy and a chest to store whatever you needed to store inside.

accessories

Minifigs
We got five minifigs in this set and since all of them comes with a cape, the back of their torso are not printed and only Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and Rolanda Hooch have two expression printed on their head.

minifigs minifigs1

Please note that I did not apply the cape on them since it is a bit troublesome and I don't have a large baseplate to attach my minifigs on it.

Chest
So this is the chest that keep Quaffle and Bludgers. Since is just some normal round piece and took most of the place in the chest, the Snitch have to be place outside. The Snitch is also made from normal parts which is 1x1 round piece.

chest

Tower
While I suppose this is the tower for their teachers to look at the match and since there is not much of things to snap, I think one picture will do. As for the seat, it was made by a 2x2 round plate, and it would be a good news for those that attached cape on Rolanda Hooch as it will not damage the cape.

tower

Trophy
While here's a place for you to place the Quidditch Throphy. Two flags and a table like stuff.

throphy

Catapult
This is two simple catapult which the design is exactly alike with the one you get in The Burrow (#4840). I seriously have no idea what is it use for as I'm not really a fans of Harry Potter but a fans for LEGO Harry Potter.

catapult

Ring
Here we have three rings that is different in heights. So in the instruction, they actually ask you to assemble it three times with slightly different parts added in each of them.

ring

Extra pieces
We get three extra pieces leftover after done with the process of assembling the whole thing.

extra pieces

Completed model
I would say this set got so many different things to be assemble and I don't really likes it as the thing scatter around. Adding some invisible stand like the one that comes with STAP will makes this set better by a little.

completed model

Playability: 4/10 This set is low on playability (catapult and building process)
Design: 5/10 Like I mention, I hate things that scatter around but a nice table for the trophy
Price:6/10 The price is quite close to our neighboring country, so is good pricing I would say
Overall: 5/10 A lot of figures and broom, but low on playability and bad design

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

LEGO Castle #852132 Castle Tic Tac Toe Review

Theme: Castle
Name: Castle Tic Tac Toe
S/N: #852132
Year: 2007
Pieces: -
Minifig: 10
Price: RM-, SGD-, USD14.99, GBP9.79

Box
Although I bought this set at my local toy store, but I cannot recall the price but I'm sure it is around RM65-70. There is a layer of cardboard protecting the tic tac toe casing and at the front there is one transparent part where you can see all the minifigs. At the back it shows some picture of the casing which looks very nice.

box box (2)

We now move to the casing of the tic tac toe which I likes it very much. On the very right you will see the two white round thing that hold the both side of the casing together. I wonder it will lose it grips if we open and close it quite often.

casing casing2 _MG_9072

Content
Once we remove the cardboard, we see a play board (I don't know what else to call it since it is made of baseplate) on the left and your minifigs (the Crown knight and undead skeleton knight) together with their weapon on the right.

content

Weapons
There are five sword which is slightly bend for the undead skeleton knight and five silver chrome sword for the Crown knight. Is sure is a good news to get this rare silver chrome sword but there are some quality problem with it. The undead one are just fine.

quality

Minifigs
There are 10 minifigs given but they are only two types of minifigs, each type have five in quantity. I think those two minifigs from this set are the same with the one we get in Final Joust (#7009).

minifigs

Play board
On the left of the casing is the play board. The base plate cannot be removed from the casing which I think they have been glued on it, however the tiles that divided the plate into boxes can be removed.

base plate

Minifigs storage
On the other hand, the place where you put your minifigs (which is on the right) can be removed. It is just some black cheap plastic holder that hold your minifigs. If you don't like it or having problem to removed your minifigs, just removed the whole black plastic.

minifig placing minifig placing1

Overall picture
The casing of course is very nice and that's why people say packaging sells. I think the whole thing is good just that there is a little quality problem with the silver chrome sword and the minifigs. If you hate the minifigs, just replace them and there shall be no problem. The board you can still use it for the game and the casing is just great, you can bring it to anywhere you want and play it when you feel bored.

final picture

Playability: 9/10 This whole thing over here is design to be play with
Quality: 6/10 The minifigs is quite bad in quality, and I'm a little upset with the silver chrome sword
Minifig: 9/10 I would say they give us a good and rare minifigs
Price: 9/10 Very cheap!!!
Overall: 8/10 A nice board game set just that the quality is a little bothersome

Friday, March 4, 2011

LEGO Star Wars #8096 Emperor Palpatine's Shuttle Review

Theme: Star Wars
Name: Emperor Palpatine's Shuttle
S/N: #8096
Year: 2010
Pieces: 592
Minifig: 4
Price: RM529.90, SGD159.90, USD59.99, GBP61.99

Box
The front of the box shows the playability, minifigures and the shuttle itself. The top side of the box shows the actual scale of each minifigures while at the back of the box shows the playability of Emperor Palpatine's Shuttle and pictures of other Star Wars sets that are release at the same time.

box
box1 box2

Content
There are four numbered packet of bricks inside the box which each of the bag assemble different part of the shuttle, two instruction books and a sticker sheet. On the other note, the torso of the 2-1B medical droid torsa and Palpatine's cape are packed separately.

content
content1 content2 content3

To view the instruction book, please visit: Book1 / Book2

Accessories
No blaster are included but two red lightsaber for the Sith are given and they have metallic hilt.

accessories

Minifigs
There are four minifigs included which I assume three of them are new, except Emperor Palpatine. Anakin and Clone Pilot got both side of their torso printed and unfortunately 2-1B medical droid head cannot be move. I do snap picture of Anakin's face and Clone Pilot as well.

minifigs
minifigs1 minifigs2 minifigs3 minifigs4

Emperor Palpatine's Shuttle
Since there are landing mode and flying mode, I snap the pictures of landing mode and flying mode of the shuttle to be posted here. Let's start off with the landing mode:

pslm
pslm1 pslm2 pslm3 pslm4

And now to the flying mode which look better but you sure need something higher to support the shuttle because of the wing that deploys that way. One weakness here is that the tail of the shuttle that have different surface on each side (if you get what I mean).

psfm
psfm1 psfm2 psfm3 psfm4

Moving to the cockpit,I would say it have enough spaces left after putting the pilot in it and there is a printed monitor in the cockpit. There is a seat for the pilot also and the cockpit fit the pilot well.

cockpit cockpit1 cockpit2

While here is some detail added on both side, which is a dual cannon blaster that is placed right beside the bar that hold the roof to the body of the shuttle.

dual blaster cannon

At the back, there are detail of repulsor which is made by translucent light blue 1x1 round plate on both side at the rear of the shuttle. Other than that, there is a cannon (I think, quite lazy to find the spec) at rear which can be adjusted.

repulsor laser cannon

There is a landing gear and it works very well especially in balancing the ship when you display it as it sometimes will be imbalanced when you pose it in a flight mode.

landing gear landing gear1

There is two bar in front and one bar at the back to hold the roof to the shuttle. The roof can be remove easily but another weakness appear, which is the minifigs cannot stand beside the transformation bed while the roof is attached. Maybe there is no space on both the side but there are space in the middle.

f-pin f-pin1 r-pin r-pin1

Now to the interior of the shuttle where transformation happen. Firstly, there is a lightsaber holder and two seats inside (one on each side). But there are not much space for the minifig to sit and we need to have a right pose in order to fit them onto the seat.

lightsaber holder seat _MG_8321 _MG_8326

The picture on the right shows the pose that you should adjust before placing it onto the seat.

The transformation playability looks attractive but it fails most of the time if we didn't hold onto Anakin, plus even though you manage to attach the helmet onto Anakin, it is not attached properly and you need to tighten it yourself.

transformation
transformation1 transformation2 transformation3

The bar that is made for you to push in order to made the playability works is neatly design, you will not see two bar sticking out at the back of the ship as the length are just right when you push it inside the shuttle.

transformation pin transformation pin1

Extra pieces
Picture below shows the extra pieces that are left for future replacement in case we misplaced them or they are broken and it seems like there are quite a number of pieces which all of them are very small and easily to be misplaced.

extra pieces

Completed model
I would say the shuttle is very well design and the playability sure is nice but there are a few weakness that I would like to highlight. First, which is the two bar that attach the roof to the shuttle can hardly be removed as it is block by the cockpit. Secondly, the interior design which is the seat inside the transformation chamber needs more space so you can attach your minifigs onto it easily. Thirdly, the rood which is made sideways on the side prevent minifigs from standing beside the transformation bed while it is closed also is a weakness. Fourth, the transformation process which you fail most of the time. Finally, the tail of the shuttle which have different surface on both side (but that cannot be help). But overall, I still like this shuttle.

completed model

Playability: 8/10 An interesting playability this shuttle has
Design: 7/10 One thing I hate here is the tail of the ship that is place on top of the roof
Price:4/10 Way too expensive
Overall: 6/10 Nice playability and figures, design of the shuttle are not bad as well