Much better value than I expected.

I have to admit that I found this rather fun. I bought it for my little girl, who has outgrown her duplo bricks. You can make allsorts with it (literally, if you are that way inclined!) and it also comes with a guide to a load of suggested models.

I ignored the guide book and built my girl a car. You get a few wheels etc so it can actually be pushed around. I wish my parents had got me this sort of stuff when I was a kid. I got handmedowns though, with all the good pieces already lost.

Um, enough about me. My daughter loves it. The only slight criticism is that the supplied baseplate is a bit small. That really is a minor quibble though. There is an awful lot of lego in this box.

"Give me an excuse to speed!"

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with a set from the Expanded Universe range with kit #7668: Rebel Scout Speeder.
After the success of last years Clone Trooper and Battle Droid battle packs it's nice to see Lego continuing with more troop building box sets.
The Scout Speeder is a small surface skimming craft with a long open bay which seats three figures and has a large gun turret with swivelling cannon at the rear. One trooper sits atop the turret which itself can detach from the Speeder and be used as a free standing gun emplacement. There are clips along the side for weapon storage.
The best thing about this kit is the new figures in the form of 4 Rebel Fleet Troopers. Finally available, I can see people buying lots of these packs to have an army to rival the numerous Stormtroopers released so far. Two blaster rifles and 2 heavy assault rifles finish the set.
The kit is composed of 57 pieces, not including the figures and weapons and measures 16.5 cm long, 6.5cm wide and 5.5cm high including aft gun turret.
It takes about 5 minutes to build, there are 3 decals to apply and it's ready to go. A nice little kit and definitely one for all those army builders out there.

"You may begin landing your troops!"

Lego continue to celebrate Star Wars' 30th Anniversary with their largest kit to date this year with the excellent Trade Federation M.T.T. (Mobile Troop Transport).
Larger and packed with more detailing than the previous 7155 kit release from 2000, this model is an excellent reproduction of its on-screen counterpart at a large 42cm in length, 20 cm high and 15 cm wide.
The MTT is packed with features. There are two large opening hatches on each side. The rear ones allow access to the vehicle bay and the forward ones allow access to the droids and weapons storage racks. The upper front has small opening panels on each side so you can see the Pilot Droid inside and the roof opens up and back to allow access.
The front end opens right out with an upper and lower hatch and through the use of a ratchet mechanism inside you can extend the Droid racks out which house a rather cool 16 Battle Droids.
There is also a hatch at the rear to allow the Droid Transport to get in and out. The Droid Transport is an update of the 7126 Battle Droid Carrier from 1999, with improved features. There is a Pilot Droid to drive and the back has the capacity to fit any of the modules with the kit. The main pilot control section, Droid racks, weapons rack and navigation pack can all be placed on the rear part of the carrier allowing you to put whatever you want on it.
The kit is great fun to build with 1175 pieces (not including Droids and weapons) and takes about 2 1/2 hours. It comes complete with a whopping 16 Battle Droids, 2 Security Battle Droids (red), 2 Pilot Droids (blue) and a vastly improved Destroyer Droid. The Battle Droids also have an improvement in that one arm has the hand upwards so now they can hold guns properly as opposed to the sideways stance they've had in the past. Each droid has one of the new blaster rifles and there are 2 of the assualt rifles stored on the navigation pack inside.
This kit is an absolute must for any Star Wars collector and an instant army builder, especially when combined with a few of the 7654 Droid Battle Packs. Now all they need to do is update the Trade Federation A.A.T. and we'll have the full army!
Roger, roger!

"Scan the planet Artoo - we're going in!"

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with their first ever set from the new Clone Wars CGI animated series with kit #7669: Anakin's Jedi Starfighter.
The yellow enhanced Delta-7 starfighter is based loosely around the frame of 2002's Jedi Starfighter with a slightly larger hull and more detailing. It features moveable wings, positionable landing gear, 2 forward mounted blue flick missiles, removable cockpit and best of all, a neat little ejection mechanism for R2.
There is a connected lever that runs from the aft through the hull and when you push it in, a small bolt pushes up and ejects R2 upwards. The new flick missiles are much better than previous issues with a new piece design that stay clipped in the frame until you apply pressure the thin tail at the back of it.
You get two figures with the kit, R2-D2 and a new version of Anakin Skywalker. Unlike previous issues, this figure has more detailing on the facial feature making it look much better than the standard ones. Anakin's trademark blue lightsabre finishes the set.
The kit is composed of 142 pieces, not including the figures, missiles and weapons and measures 26cm long, 14cm wide and 8cm high - without landing gear deployed.
It takes about 15 minutes to build, there are 6 decals to apply and it's ready to go. A very nice starfighter and hopefully the first in a new wave for Star Wars Lego.

"Begin landing your troops."

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with a set from the Expanded Universe range with kit #7667: Imperial Dropship.
After the success of last years Clone Trooper and Battle Droid battle packs it's nice to see Lego continuing with more troop building box sets.
The Imperial Dropship is a small planet skimming craft with a cockpit for a pilot, wing mounted cannons and a deployable troop platform to the rear. The cockpit hinges open and closed and the rear tail and thruster assembly pivots up to allow the troop platform to detach.
You get one Shadow Trooper pilot (previously only available in 2007's TIE Crawler) and 3 Stormtroopers. Two blaster rifles and 2 heavy assault rifles finish the set.
The kit is composed of 60 pieces, not including the figures and weapons and measures 11cm long, 6cm wide and 7.5cm high at rear.
It takes about 5 minutes to build, there are 3 decals to apply and it's ready to go. A nice little kit and definitely one for all those army builders out there.

Teeny box of lego - rather too small for party present

The product info doesn't mention how very small the box is. Perhaps this toy will be a lot of fun for a lego / Star Wars fan ?? ... but it is going to seem a very tiny present when it is handed over at a party. Overpriced?

Entertaining

I found that my younger brother loved them, I brought six altogether and he was jumping with joy, he has even planed for them a battle with other star wars items.

There are ideal for people who want to build up their forces, since the CIS or separatist army need to have more units then the republic!

This is great to buy rather then buying larger sets to just get your hand on a droid or two- so it makes sence to buy quite a few of them.

"General Kenobi, you are a bold one!"

Lego continue to celebrate Star Wars' 30th Anniversary with their first wave of new kits from the Saga with this great model of General Grievous' starfighter.
For collectors, this is the first chance to get a General Grievous figure since the General Grievous Chase set from 2005's Revenge Of The Sith line which sold out in record time!
The ship is great, with lots of small pieces on the hull to give some detailing. The front section slides forward to allow access to the cockpit and the rear stabiliser folds up and down for flight or landing.
Grievous comes equipped with 2 green lightsabres, 2 blue lightsabres and one of the new blaster rifles. The lightsabres can be attached to a weapons rack for storage which itself clips just at the front of the lower hull out of the way.
The model contains 220 pieces, not including the figure and weapons and takes about 15 minutes to build.
A must have for any Star Wars collection. Just make sure those pesky Jedi don't use it to escape :)

"Hunt down and kill the remaining Jedi!"

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with the first ever kit based on a Star Wars computer game with the excellent Rogue Shadow from The Force Unleashed.
This model is a great representation of the ship used by Darth Vader in the game. It features opening cockpit canopy to reveal the pilot area (for 1 figure) and storage compartment, rotating wing panels which simultaneously fold the engine port back for either flight position or landing and moveable landing gear which folds away neatly for flight. There are weapons pods on the tip of each wing which add to the sinister look.
The port wing has two compartments. The upper one which opens to allow a missile rack which activates with a lever from the outside. The two missiles are simply pulled out for use. The lower compartment has a swivelling weapons rack which has two of the heavy assault rifles in it. The starboard wing has one compartment which opens via a lever from underneath which ratchets a firing missile launcher from inside - the same type as the one in the 2007 Imperial Landing Craft or 2006's Slave 1.
The bonus of this kit is the 3 mini figures with it. You get a battle damaged Darth Vader figure with great face and body detailing. You can choose to have him wearing his helmet or a partial version and wielding his red lightsabre. You also get Juno Eclipse who has a choice of hair or Imperial Officer's hat and like Vader, has better face detailing. Finally you have Vader's apprentice complete with a red lightsabre. Unfortunately he is relegated to the basic Lego face which is a shame seeing as how the other two look so good.
The kit is composed of 460 pieces, not including the figures, weapons, alternate head pieces and firing missile.
Rogue Shadow measures 38cm long from aft engine to laser cannon tip, 32cm wide from wing to wing and 9cm high not including wings in vertical landing position.
It takes about 45 minutes to build and is a very welcome addition to the Star Wars universe. Let's hope Lego continue further releases from the Star Wars games soon.

Gotta love Indy!

As the entry-level offering in this new LEGO Indy series (presumably introduced to coincide with the new film and LEGO Indy Video Game) this is amazing fun and value for money.

Police truck and command centre

This is a great toy. My 9 year old son has just received the set with the police headquarters. As with most Lego sets, they are easy to make up and look great when finished. I am sure this will provide hours of fun.

Massively overpriced from Amazon

This is a great introduction to Lego, which toddlers are totally enthralled by. Any of us who had this as children, take great pleasure in passing on the creativity to the next generation.

DON'T BUY IT FROM AMAZON!

It's cheaper at a certain supermarket's online store (under £10 = free P&P) - every little helps.

The rest of Amazon's Lego seems competitive from what I have observed.

But do buy it, especially if the youngster you are buying it for is not your own. Whoever's child you buy it for will instantly thank and respect you, for your insider knowledge ;-).

"Pursue the Rebels into the forest!"

Lego continue their collection for Star Wars' 30th Anniversary with this great updated kit of the AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport)
Far superior to the original release back in 2001, this kit is the correct scale, is packed with features and has for the first time an AT-ST driver figure armed with a blastech E-11 rifle.
The AT-ST has this neat wheel on the back that allows you to move the head side to side via a gear mechanism in the body. The cockpit hatch opens and there is even room behind the driver for another figure. The left side of the head has a positionable cannon and the right has a positionable mortar. The primary guns on the front can also move.
The legs have three points of articulation each making the kit quite poseable - great for trampling those Ewok catapults!
The kit is easy to build, it doesn't take too long and is a great addition to any Imperial armada.
Let's hope they update the AT-AT as well :)

Green is for grass

So it’s a green base plate - it’s ideal for building lego structures on and as it’s green you can pretend that it’s grass, great for gardens I hear you cry!

If you (or your kids) want to build houses/zoos then buy this.

Patience game

One piece of strong advice. You must have unlimited patience to build this. It's not a matter of skill, but the emotional skill - I spent 3 days making this, I pick it up and ... BANG! Base falls out, I spent hours rebuilding it, then give up later after reducing me to tears twice.

There are loads of good points though; it comes with a Darth Vader figure [I have been looking for one for ages], an exclusive, no, two - Grand Moff Tarkin and the mouse droid - and 2 emperor's royal guards. These are especially good - the force pikes, the capes, the AWESOME helmets.There's also an Emperor hologram.

Overall, I'd say buy this if you're not going to play with it. If you like getting stuff out, buy the Troop Transporter - you get a brilliant vehicle, one imperial pilot, 2 sandtroopers and 2 normal stormtroopers.
Patience is everything.

"Deploy the droids!

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with a set from the Attack Of The Clones with kit #7670: Hailfire Droid and Spider Droid.
After the success of last years Clone Trooper and Battle Droid battle packs it's nice to see Lego continuing with new larger troop building box sets.
The set is an instant droid army and has 4 mini figures. There are two standard Battle Droids, like the ones from 2007's Trade Federation M.T.T., which have the arm with the upright grip and one Battle Droid Commander with a yellow body. Each one is armed with a blaster rifle. There is also a dark grey Super Battle Droid as well.
The next droid is the Spider Droid. A vastly improved and updated version from the previous release in 2005's Wookie Attack, it has more poseable legs, moveable antenna, movable forward cannon and moving eye scanners. It has a foot base of 7.5 sqcm, is 11.5cm from leg to cannon tip and stands 8.5 cm high to tip of antenna.
The kit is finished off with a Corporate Alliance Hailfire Droid. These antiaircraft weapon platforms have two upper mounted missile racks for dealing with enemy ships. The model has angled wheels with brown tread tracks (works best on carpeted floors!) and movable missile pods on each side. Each pod holds 4 red flick missiles. The droid measures 10 cm long, 13.5cm wide and 8cm tall.
The kit which is composed of 227 pieces, not including the figures and weapons and takes about 20 minutes to build. A excellent army builder and a must for all those Trade Federation fans out there. Lets hope Lego bring out a comparable Clone Trooper pack later in the year.