The Gimme LEGO Awards 2013

Yes, yes - I know the 2013 awards are a bit late; I would normally have hoped to have published them before now, but the series of postings about my Ghostbusters MOCs pushed this post back a couple of weeks. Anyway, better late than never, I'm delighted to present my annual Gimme LEGO Awards for the best and worst of the LEGO year just gone. All entirely subjective and unscientific, of course, so please feel free to leave a comment if you violently disagree (or indeed agree...) with any of my selections.


1. Best theme

Last year's winner : Monster Fighters

2013 winner : Creator, including Creator Expert

LEGO themes come and go, but Creator is eternal. Well, since 2001 at least. For me, LEGO's Creator theme is the eternal bridesmaid, inevitably in the shadow of the latest glitzy licensed offering, and with a correspondingly modest marketing budget to boot. Even the Creator theme art, taken from LEGO's S@H website, is a bit plain. But the thing is, the Creator theme consistently delivers - as I previously noted here and here, the Creator theme invariably features a number of sets every year that I really want to get. Think of it as the quirky girl in the movie who's best friends with the hero, but he's only got eyes for the cheerleader; eventually the penny drops, the cheerleader is revealed to be not all that, and the hero finally realises that his true love has been staring him in the face from the beginning. Well, that's Creator I reckon....

An obvious attraction of the basic sets in the theme is their longevity and value for money - effectively three sets in one, and yet retailing at a relatively low price point compared with sets of a comparable size within other themes. The lack of specialized elements in the sets also arguably makes them particularly useful as parts packs for building your own creations. What the sets don't generally get much credit for is the actual designs, though - the inexpensive Fierce Flyer set above immediately caught my eye when I first spied the 2013 Creator line up - a nice primary model, and the alternate builds aren't bad either. I'm also a fan of Set 31011 Aviation Adventures (below), although IMHO there actually isn't a bad set in the 2013 Creator line up.

The icing on the cake in 2013 was the addition of some of LEGO's biggest and most complex models to the Creator theme under the banner of Creator Expert; now in addition to the virtues extolled above, Creator is also the home of LEGO's beloved modular buildings, such as Set 10232 Palace Cinema (below) and a number of other gems such as Set 10233 Horizon Express, Set 10235 Winter Village Market and Set 10234 Sydney Opera House. Add to that the arrival of LEGO's latest and possibly greatest modular building, the Parisian Restaurant, on the 1st January 2014, and it looks like Creator might be difficult to shift from the top spot next year as well.

Honourable mention : The Lone Ranger - The Lone Ranger film might have bombed at the box office, but that's in no way a reflection of LEGO's efforts with their Lone Ranger theme. I wasn't expecting much when the sets were announced, most likely just a sprinkling of by-the-numbers sets for what would most likely be a one-and-done theme, but I admit I was badly mistaken. Six retail sets, all of them decent, and a couple - Set 79108 Stagecoach Escape  and Set 79111 Constitution Train Chase - were frankly excellent. It wasn't just the set design either - some of the minifigures were outstanding. Well done to LEGO, then, who more than kept up their part of the bargain, even if the movie was a disappointment.

Honourable mention #2 : Galaxy Squad - The latest in a long line of non-licensed LEGO space themes, Galaxy Squad picked up the baton from previous favourite Alien Conquest in offering some great-looking sci-fi themed models which were literally packed with clever design touches and neat play features. The alien species was a particular highlight of the theme for me. I strongly suspect that sales were handicapped by a lack of marketing push, however, which makes me nervous that one of these days LEGO won't bother with an unlicensed space theme.


2. Most Disappointing Theme

Last year's 'winner' : Cars

2013 'winner' : Superheroes

If in January 2013 you'd told me that I'd be hanging the gong for most disappointing theme of 2013 around the neck of the DC and Marvel Superheroes themes then I'd probably have laughed in your face. Back then I'd just reviewed Set 10937 Arkham Asylum Breakout over at Brickset and given it a ringing endorsement. To say that what's been released since doesn't maintain those high standards is a massive understatement, however. For me, it's provided a perfect example of everything that's wrong with licensed themes, namely weak, lazy models which feel like they're only there to provide an excuse for LEGO to release a bunch of themed minifigures. Yes, I get it that minifigures are big business, but according to LEGO's own senior management the company's mission is to "Inspire and Develop the Builders of Tomorrow", and I'd wager that it's unlikely to do that by bundling a bunch of minifigures with mediocre models and charging a premium for the privilege. Very disappointing.

(Dis)honourable mention : Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Another theme where the actual sets seemed to come a distant second to the minifigures in terms of priorities. When the license was announced, a generation of TMNT fans cheered, and who could resist those minifigures ? Once the elation had died down, however, I for one was left scratching my head at the actual sets. One of them, Set 79104 The Shellraiser Street Chase, supposedly even had to be temporarily withdrawn as it kept falling apart, and most of them just looked like an incoherent afterthought. Let's hope that the next wave of sets is an improvement on the last....

3. The "Medieval Market Village" award for Best Non-Licensed Set

Last year's winner : Set 10228 Haunted House

2013 winner : Set 10232 Palace Cinema

While I don't think there were any non-licensed sets in 2013 to rival the splendour of last year's wonderful winner (the Monster Fighters Haunted House) there were certainly a number of worthy contenders for the 2013 award. After much thought (not to mention some serious pressure from my other half, for whom there was absolutely no doubt what the winner should be) Set 10232 Palace Cinema got the nod.

As a member of an extremely exclusive club, namely LEGO's beloved series of modular buildings, the Palace Cinema had a lot to live up to, and in most respects it didn't disappoint. It was the attention to detail which immediately won me over - the humorous film posters adorning the outer walls, the interior details such as the concession stand and screening room, the limo complete with movie star and paparazzo, and the terracotta-style roof tiles for starters. I'm also a big fan of the quirky stylings of the building itself which obviously brings to mind the world famous Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, location of many a world premiere. As you'd expect from a modular, the set is full of clever little touches, not to mention a myriad of interesting elements.

If I have a criticism of the set, it's perhaps that it feels a little insubstantial against some of the other recent modulars, for instance Set 10224 Town Hall, but for me at least that's more than compensated for by the overall quality of the set. In the final analysis, my immediate reaction when I first saw the advance publicity photos was one of excitement, and I wasn't disappointed when the set eventually arrived - a worthy winner IMHO.

Honourable Mention : Set 10233 Horizon Express. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when LEGO released Set 10194 Emerald Night in 2009, and I wasn't alone; it was a cause for genuine sadness when the set was retired at the end of 2011. LEGO then gave us Set 10219 Maersk Train, an interesting, authentic but ultimately workmanlike offering, to supplement the less realistic City trains which were also available at the time. When the Maersk Train departed in late 2012 I kept my fingers tightly crossed that LEGO would quickly replace it with another adult-oriented train, and my prayers were thankfully answered when the Horizon Express was released at the beginning of 2013. OK, so it doesn't necessarily take your breath away like Emerald Night did, but it's still a cracker. A TGV by any other name, it looks great, and it's packed with neat details, starting with the black and white brick-built logo on the side of the locomotive. LEGO kept the cost down by not including the elements needed to motorise it, but it's easy to remedy this should you decide to do so. In summary, it looks great, it's an interesting build, and it's decent value for money - it only missed out on top spot by a whisker.

Other contenders : Set 70709 Galactic Titan, Set 70500 Kai's Fire Mech, Set 60026 Town Square, Set 41015 Dolphin Cruiser, Set 10234 Sydney Opera House


4. Best Licensed Set

Last year's winner : Set 79003 An Unexpected Gathering

2013 winner : Set 10236 Ewok Village

In contrast to the award for best non-licensed set I was spoiled for choice this year in this category - we've had some absolutely stunning licensed sets to choose from - but for me the Ewok Village stands above all the rest, both literally and metaphorically.

Sometimes it seems that I spend half my time moaning about LEGO's Star Wars theme on the pages of Gimme LEGO. As a huge Star Wars fan who was dragged out of my LEGO Dark Ages by the release of Set 10188 Death Star, I've watched with dismay as the Star Wars cash cow has been milked by way of a profusion of lazy remakes and unimaginative designs. It's therefore fair to say that I was absolutely amazed when I first spied the Ewok Village.

First and foremost, I think it was an astonishingly brave decision by LEGO to release it at all - a huge, expensive set which is effectively just a couple of big trees embellished with a bunch of minifigures sounds absolutely crazy, to be honest. Questions about how well it's performed at retail aside, the designer has I think done a beautiful job with the set. Once again it's the myriad of little details that delights - similar to the aforementioned Death Star play set, multiple familiar little vignettes play out across the model; Han roasting over an open fire (above), logs ready and waiting to crush a passing AT-ST (below), Threepio being carried aloft by the Ewoks, and many more - they're all there for fans to enjoy.

I've at times been highly critical of LEGO's tendency to prioritise minifigures over the actual set designs, and nowhere has this been more in evidence over the past few years than in the Star Wars theme. I can however happily live with the inclusion of seventeen minifigures in this set given the quality of the set that they accompany. The minifigures themselves are predictably impressive - the outstanding quality of recent Star Wars minifigures is certainly not in doubt - but in this case they enhance the set rather than provide a substitute for it.

As an offering to fans of the Star Wars Original Trilogy, the Ewok Village is a wonderful and timely reminder that LEGO is still willing to take commercial risks in order to give their fans incredible products, and for that I'm genuinely thankful. A superb set.

Honourable Mention : Set 10237 Tower of Orthanc. 

Having delighted Lord of the Rings (LotR) fans by securing the licence, I think it's fair to say that LEGO have in the main done justice to the theme with some excellent sets; lest we forget, the LotR theme won the "Better than Expected" award in last year's Gimme LEGO Awards. So how have LEGO followed that up in 2013 ? By releasing a second wave of great sets, that's how. While many of The Hobbit sets have left me a bit cold, I have no such reservations about the 2013 LotR offerings, the pinnacle of which is the amazing Tower of Orthanc. I have to admit I never saw it coming - 2359 pieces puts the set firmly in UCS territory size-wise, and indeed the level of detail in the model wouldn't disgrace a UCS set either. Like the Ewok Village I think this was a brave release - that's a big old lump of black for the average LEGO fan to digest - but for fans of LotR like myself it's wonderful. It's not just a pretty face, either - look behind the detailed, imposing facade and a multitude of different rooms are revealed, each with its own nod to the subject material. Any other year this excellent set might well have finished top of the pile, it's that good.

Other contenders : Set 10937 Arkham Asylum Breakout, Set 79108 Stagecoach Escape, Set 79111 Constitution Train Chase, Set 10240 Red Five X-wing Starfighter, Set 79008 Pirate Ship Ambush


5. The "Phantom Menace" Award for Most Disappointing Set

Last year's winner : Set 21012 Sydney Opera House

2013 winner : Set 76008 Iron Man vs. The Mandarin: Ultimate Showdown 

Set 76008 Iron Man vs. The Mandarin: Ultimate Showdown

Regardless of what the Iron Man 3 branding on the front of the box might suggest, to say that this set is only loosely based on the Iron Man 3 movie would be a gross understatement. Yes, it features minifigs of Iron Man and the Mandarin, but the build itself bears no relation to the movie at all, consisting of a random vehicle vaguely resembling an armoured car with a flamethrower bolted on to the roof. It looks like something that a 6 year old could (and probably would) have designed, and even aside from the complete lack of relevance to the subject matter it's a piss poor model in its own right. Some will argue that LEGO sometimes have to design these licensed sets before all the details of the film are known, but frankly that's not our problem as consumers; it'd surely be better just to pull these mediocre tie-ins from the release schedule when it becomes clear that they're irrelevant, particularly when they're so awful....

(Dis)honourable mention : Set 76006 Iron Man: Extremis Sea Port Battle. The second of a Superheroes dismal double-whammy in this category, the Extremis Sea Port Battle comes a close second to its ghastly brethren above. Once again the model bears no relation to the movie, and once again the design is weak, albeit not quite as risible as the vehicle in Set 76008. The set also features a more interesting selection of minifigures, so overall it's slightly less rubbish than Set 76008. Slightly.

(Dis)honourable mention 2 : Mr Gold. I'm sure you all know the story by now: following the launch of the Collectible Minifigures in 2010, huge numbers of LEGO fans around the globe strove to accumulate a complete collection. By early 2013, LEGO had released nine series of Collectible Minifigures, each consisting of sixteen different minifigs, plus a further set of nine Team GB minifigures, all of which collectors avidly snapped up. That's 153 different minifigures in total. And then later in 2013, LEGO decided to include an ultra-rare 'Mr. Gold' chase figure in Series 10 of the Collectible Minifigures, thus consigning huge numbers of completists to either hand over a genuine king's ransom to gleeful eBay scalpers, or else just accept that the collection they'd lovingly cultivated over the previous three years would never again be complete. Thanks a bunch, LEGO.

6. Best Minifigure

Last year's winner : Queen Amidala

2013 winner : Tonto

Just prior to the retail release of the Lone Ranger sets I was lucky enough to get an early peek at Set 79108 Stagecoach Escape and I was blown away by the quality of some of the minifigures. Of Tonto (above) I wrote "From my perspective, every part of him, from his printed legs, front and back-printed torso and head with it’s alternate expression, is outstanding, with the highlight being his amazing hair and head dress, topped off with a black bird.". Those words still ring true nearly a year later. I'm therefore delighted to hand Tonto the gong for best minifigure this year; while other Lone Ranger minifigures such Red Harrington also deserve praise, Tonto wins by a head.

Honourable Mention : Gingerbread Man. How do they do it ? Honestly, notwithstanding my critical comments above about LEGO's unpopular and divisive Mr. Gold stunt, you do have to hand it to them - after 11 full series of Collectible Minifigures (CMFs) they still seem to be able to come up with the goods. The Gingerbread Man was my pick of Series 11, and indeed one of my favourites since LEGO started pumping out the CMFs. I can't wait to see what's in store in Series 12 and beyond....

Other contenders : Legends of Chima (overall mini figure quality across the theme)


7. The "Better than Expected" Award

Last year's winner : Lord of the Rings

2013 winner : The Lone Ranger theme

Given my comments about the Lone Ranger theme in a couple of the previous award categories, I guess you probably saw this one coming.... When I learned that LEGO would be producing sets based on the 2013 Lone Ranger movie I wasn't particularly fussed, figuring that I'd almost certainly pass on them. I never watched the Lone Ranger TV series as a kid, I had little to no interest in the movie, and I half expected some uninspiring and over-priced movie tie-ins which would sink without trace. As previously stated, however, what we actually got were some genuinely excellent sets, both in terms of the set design and the minifigures. As previously stated, a couple of the sets were among the strongest licensed sets of the year in my opinion. Early discounting of the sets at retail suggests that sales weren't strong, unfortunately, probably as a result of the movie's failure at the box office. The team that designed the sets will almost certainly never read this, but I nevertheless hope that they're aware what a good job they did, and that future licenses are as thoughtfully handled.


8. Most Welcome LEGO-Related Announcement

Last year's winner : Watford LEGO Brand Store

2013 Winner : Peter Reid's Exo Suit to be the next Cuusoo Set

Having given my "Most Welcome Announcement" gong to something with personal significance last year, I'm afraid I'm going to have to do exactly the same thing this year as well..... Exo Suit designer Pete Reid (Legoloverman) is a friend and a fellow Brickish Association member, and I was absolutely delighted when his Exo Suit design garnered 10,000 votes on Cuusoo and was subsequently greenlit by LEGO to go into production. Finally a Cuusoo release that I'm genuinely excited about, and let's hope that LEGO do the final model justice.... Well done, Pete !

Honourable mention : December 2013 update of Cuusoo guidelines. And not before time.... Cuusoo gives LEGO fans the opportunity to upload their original designs and get those designs made into official LEGO sets, providing of course that those designs prove to be sufficiently popular and meet certain criteria. It's grown in leaps and bounds since its inception in 2008, but that growth in popularity has made it increasingly difficult to wade through all the derivative, me-too designs and obscure, limited-interest proposals clogging up the site. A few weeks back Cuusoo updated its Guidelines, House Rules, and Terms of Service, however, and I was pleased to note that the updates will help to address some of the problems. Non brick-built construction projects are now explicitly out of scope, so no more apps, branded items or other tat, and also out of scope are all the interminable battlepack-type projects, uber niche-interest company or team logos, and projects that don't use authentic LEGO parts. All we need now is a way of limiting the thousands of derivative ideas based on licensed properties, particularly those featuring I.P.s where LEGO have already rejected previous proposals, and maybe a few more 'hidden gems' might be uncovered. We can hope....

9. Gimme LEGO Reader's Choice Award

Last year's winner : Set 10228 Haunted House

2013 winner : over to you....

Yep - this is your chance to have your say. I've come up with a list of what I consider to be twelve of the best sets of 2012. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to choose your favourite from the list on the top right of the page. If your pick of the year isn't on the list then click 'None of the above' and leave a comment or send me a message via the contact button above the list letting me know which set you think should top the pile. Cast your votes - one person, one vote - and at midnight on 16th January the poll will close and we'll have our winner.... If you're on a smartphone or similar and can't see the poll then click "view web version" at the bottom of the page in order to see the nominations and cast your vote.

*Update* Voting has now closed. Click here to see the results !


Previous Gimme LEGO Awards : 2012, 2011

Galaxy Squad - Like a Prayer

Well, it appears that my attendance at LEGO's recent Galaxy Squad launch event had the desired effect - not only did I write about the event itself (report here) and give the theme the thumbs up, but on returning home I was even more motivated to dive into the sets and get building than I had been beforehand. The only question was which Galaxy Squad set I should crack open first, and the decision was taken out of my hands when I was presented with Set 70703 Star Slicer by my long-suffering wife as a holiday gift. She said, however, that I could only have it on condition that I open and build it there and then, rather than hoard it away in my LEGO mancave and look lovingly at the sealed box like a pitiful AFOL version of Gollum; I've learned not to argue with she who must be obeyed, so open and build it I did. If you'd have preferred me to build and review a different Galaxy Squad set then you can therefore take it up with her....

The front of the box (above - click to enlarge) features an excellent action shot of the sinister Star Slicer battling against our Galaxy Squad Blue Team heroes on the surface of an unknown moon. The Star Slicer is piloted by an Alien Buggoid; you can also see him trying to escape from the upper right hand corner of the box - a nice humorous touch - while Blue Team pose resolutely in the lower right hand corner. If you enlarge the picture above and look closely at the Galaxy Squad logo you'll see a white and grey ship in the middle which appears to split in two; this has a significance beyond mere decoration as we'll see below.

As is customary, the back of the box (above - click to enlarge) highlights play features of the set, not least Galaxy Squad's much-vaunted split function, whereby vehicles split into separate, self-contained models to enhance the play experience. In this case it's the Blue Team vehicle which splits, into an Attack Flyer and an Armoured Car. Highlighted features of the Star Slicer include the detachable trans-purple cocoon which is designed to trap and imprison members of Blue Team, a Zamor sphere-firing mechanism, and moveable front limbs.

LEGO presumably considers the box too small to justify being closed up with a tape seal so it's thumb tabs instead I'm afraid. As usual, I used a sharp craft knife to carefully slice open the flaps on the left side of the box in order to release the contents. The box contained three large bags of parts numbered 1 to 3, each of which contained at least one smaller unmarked bag of parts, an instruction booklet, and a DSS.

The instruction booklet (front cover above - click to enlarge) is 80 pages from cover to cover; in addition to the 73 pages of building instructions you also get a 2-page inventory of parts and a bunch of advertising including the page below featuring the other first wave Galaxy Squad sets (click to enlarge).

The sticker sheet (below - click to enlarge) is compact but disappointingly extensive, featuring a total of 18 separate stickers. There's obviously always the option just not to apply them, and I know a few builders who don't bother, but for me a model isn't complete without them. They are at least printed on a transparent backing so should last reasonably well.

The set contains a total of 311 parts, and a selection of the more unusual and/or interesting parts can be seen below (click to enlarge). There aren't any completely unique elements but there are a number which have to date only appeared in this set and one other; these include the dark azure blue vehicle mudguard, the dark red 4 x 2 slope, the 10 x 3 lime left and right wedges (only right-hand wedge shown below), the sand green 1 x 2 - 1 x 4 bracket and the trans-purple Zamor sphere. The printed dark bley 2 x 2 tile in the top right of the picture is exclusive to the Galaxy Squad theme (so far at least) as is the trans-purple alien pod/container. A few of the parts, such as the trans-bright green blade with curved tip and the pearl dark grey zamor sphere launcher, haven't previously appeared outside of the Hero Factory theme.

The set contains 3 minifigures. First up is the dark red Alien Buggoid (below - click pics to enlarge) which is unique to this set. The excellent headpiece, with its compound eyes and rear protruberance which overhangs the back of the torso, slips directly on to the top of the torso rather than fitting over a minifigure head. The printing on the torso both front and back does an excellent job of imitating an insect's carapace, and the pattern extends downwards onto the front of the legs.

Blue Team are the Alien Buggoid's adversaries and consist of Solomon Blaze and his Robot Sidekick. Solomon Blaze (pictures below - click to enlarge) appears in a total of three sets including this one; his head features what Bricklink describes as a "Cyborg Eyepiece", and there's alternate printing on the back of the head featuring some kind of breathing apparatus. His dark azure helmet and trans clear visor are pretty standard LEGO Space fare, having previously adorned the ADU soldiers in 2011's Alien Conquest theme. The printing on the torso gives it a suitably armoured appearance front and back, and the legs are also printed, including what look like armoured knee-pads.

Solomon Blaze's Robot Sidekick is unique to this set, although an alternate version which is identical save for a jet pack appears in two other Galaxy Squad sets. The head is a new mould and packs in a lot of interesting detail, both from the perspective of the actual moulding itself and also the printing. There's also interesting detail on the torso and legs, including what looks like some kind of radioactive backpack on the rear of the torso.

Bag 1 contains parts for Solomon Blaze and his Robot Sidekick plus their vehicle (pictures below - click to enlarge), which as previously stated splits into an Attack Flyer and Armoured Car. The build is short, sweet and straightforward, occupying only 16 pages of the instruction booklet.

The Attack Flyer (below - click to enlarge) is essentially a heavily-armoured, weaponised jet pack for the Robot Sidekick. The armour consists of a pair of stickered vehicle mudguards, and in addition to the sizeable twin forward-facing cannons there are exposed studs on the back to attach the Robot Sidekick's weapon. The Attack Flyer attaches to the Armoured car by way of the light bley modified 1 x 2 brick with vertical clip which you can see in the pictures below.

The Armoured Car (below - click to enlarge) is pretty rudimentary; it's armoured in name only, in reality offering Solomon Blaze little protection. It also lacks the firepower of the Attack Flyer, with only a couple of extended pistols to call upon. It features a couple of control sticks in the cockpit but no control console, and Solomon needs to lean backwards in order for the canopy to close.

Bags 2 and 3 contain the parts for the Alien Buggoid and the Star Slicer. The 'torso' and 'abdomen' of the Star Slicer are first to be built (below - click to enlarge); the build is fairly simple, but does require some moderately challenging sticker placement. That being said, the stickers look pretty cool IMHO.

Next up are the limbs and head of the beast. There are 6 limbs, consisting of 4 hind legs and 2 arm-like fore-legs. The hind legs are fixed in position; made up of Hero Factory angled blades, they're joined to the junction of abdomen and torso via technic axles and connectors and look pretty good, although they'd look even better if the connectors were the same colour as the legs. The abdomen actually rests on the ground, meaning that the legs don't have to support any weight and are therefore just for show. The fore-legs are hinged in two places and can be posed to a degree; each one features a trans-bright green blade with a curved tip.

The finished model (above - click to enlarge) clearly takes inspiration from the praying mantis; the designers have borrowed heavily from the basic body morphology and lime green colour scheme of the real thing, not to mention imitating the characteristic fore-legs and large eyes. The LEGO interpretation does however add a few features most definitely not found in nature, not least the the trans-purple alien pod which attaches via a Technic axle pin immediately above the abdomen, and the pair of pearl dark grey Zamor sphere launchers protruding from the front of the head which when squeezed fire the sphere with quite some considerable force; there's even a spare sphere provided should you lose one of them.

You can see the Star Slicer, Blue Team vehicle and all the minifigures below (click picture to enlarge). I've got to say I that really don't fancy Blue team's chances much - probably time for them to call in some reinforcements I reckon....

Overall, it's a decent set. Better than that, it's a good set. OK, so Blue Team's vehicle is a bit underwhelming, although the split function works well and the Attack Flyer is quite neat, but the Star Slicer itself is excellent - a genuinely interesting design IMHO which is fun to build, and suitably creepy and insect-like. As usual I'm compelled to complain about the stickers - 18 of them in this set - but there's no doubt that they enhance the appearance of the models and the Slicer in particular, and despite my all complaining they were in the end still worth the effort it took to neatly apply them.

Set 70703 Star Slicer has an RRP of £34.99 / US$39.99, hardly a bargain for 311 parts, although I suppose that there are a number of larger-than-average elements in the mix. It's surprisingly hard to find the set at retail, in the UK at least - Argos don't carry it, and seemingly neither do John Lewis, TRU, The Entertainer or Boots - and even LEGO's own Galaxy Squad microsite fails to mention the set. The dearth of retail stockists suggests that it's presumably a Retailer Exclusive, although I'm struggling to figure out which retailer it's exclusive to.... My copy was apparently sourced from a LEGO brand store, and the set is also available online from LEGO S@H which is probably your best bet if you want to buy a copy; failing that it's available via Amazon, albeit from a third party seller rather than Amazon itself - click here to buy in the UK.

Ready for Launch

When a call went out on the Brickish Association forum a few months back asking if there were any AFOL bloggers interested in attending the official LEGO Galaxy Squad launch I replied like a shot. The Galaxy Squad theme is the latest in a long and often illustrious line of LEGO Space themes, most of which I've eagerly embraced; given this, plus my enthusiasm for the launch venue - the UK's National Space Centre (NSC) in Leicester - it was a total no brainer. It did briefly occur to me to wonder why LEGO was hosting a launch event well over 6 months after the first wave of Galaxy Squad sets had first appeared at retail, but I wasn't complaining....

A formal invitation (above) and itinerary duly arrived, and so it was that last Saturday I saddled up for the trek to the East Midlands with my reluctant wife and excited son in tow. I was already pretty familiar with the NSC (below) - the Brickish Association have exhibited there for the past few years (see for example here and here) and it's a friendly and interesting venue where I've always felt at home.

On arrival, attendees were ushered into the spacious Shuttle Suite and treated to tea, coffee and pastries. The attendees were I assume journalists and bloggers, accompanied by assorted family members; I didn't recognise anybody there apart from Richard Hayes, fellow AFOL and the webmaster over at Brick Fanatics. As you can see from the picture below (click to enlarge), the Shuttle Suite was set up with a number of circular tables, a couple of large projection screens and a smattering of LEGO banners to brand the event; each table featured a different Galaxy Squad set which someone had already had the pleasure of building.

Elyssa from Norton, LEGO's PR Agency, formally kicked things off at around 10.30 a.m.. She welcomed attendees and told us what was planned for the day prior to showing a brief introductory Galaxy Squad video and then letting us loose on the demo sets. The kids (and a few of the adults) had a great time playing with the sets; I was already pretty familiar with most of the Galaxy Squad sets, but one thing that hadn't really sunk in prior to my extensive play test was how many of the models are designed to be split into a couple of separate and self-contained play elements, generally a flying machine of some description and a land-based vehicle or structure. This alone confers substantial play value, and that's before you consider the variety of other play features built into the sets, be it the excellent motion-induced movement of the legs on Set 70708 Hive Crawler (shown below with Set 70707 CLS-89 Eradicator Mech - click to enlarge), the grasping pincers at the front of Set 70706 Crater Creeper, and the almost ubiquitous opening cockpits, flick-fire missiles and spring-loaded catapult-type weapons. While we were demoing the models a series of brief Galaxy Squad-themed videos were playing in the background on a loop on the projection screens; I subsequently discovered that these videos are all available on the Galaxy Squad micro-site, and you can see them here if you're interested.

On arrival the kids had been given a well-stuffed goody bag containing a couple of Galaxy Squad polys, an NSC-branded soft toy and other bits and pieces. I was pleased to see my youngster immediately dive into the polys and build them unaided, starting with Set 30230 Mini Mech shown below.

Once attendees had had their fill of the demo sets they were free to roam the NSC. In addition to the usual space-related attractions at the venue, a number of Galaxy Squad-related activities had been laid on for NSC visitors, enabling the general public to join in the fun. An area was set aside for free-building with loose elements from Galaxy Squad sets, and some of the best creations were on show. Visitors could also participate in the construction of a Galaxy Squad-related mosaic (below), and DJ's from local radio station GEM 106 were broadcasting live from the venue and ran a "guess the build" competition for kids with Galaxy Squad polys for the winners.

Galaxy Squad Mosaic - Work in Progress....

Galaxy Squad launch invitees retired to the Shuttle Suite at 1 pm for lunch; unfortunately, on the way to the buffet, my boy spotted some laptops running a Galaxy Squad online game and we spent the next half an hour or more trying to extricate him.... Once we'd prised him away from the laptop and fed ourselves it was time to listen to Duncan Titmarsh, the UK's only Certified LEGO Professional, give a talk about what it's like to build LEGO models for a living. Duncan, the founding director of Bright Bricks, a fellow member of the Brickish Association and a renowned builder, talked about some of the projects he's undertaken, including his stupendous 35-foot high Christmas tree at London's St. Pancras Station and a half scale working model of a Rolls Royce aircraft engine. After Duncan's talk the audience spent around 15 minutes firing questions at him, such as what he'd love to be asked to build ("a full-sized London bus"), what are his favourite LEGO themes ("Creator because they contain lots of parts, and Galaxy Squad and Friends because of all the interesting colours"), and whether building models for a living diminishes the pleasure he gets from LEGO ("No - it's still fun").

After Duncan's talk, my family and I briefly popped into the NSC shop to grab a few souvenirs (they have some seriously neat holographic postcards in there....), said our goodbyes and then headed off back down South.

My NSC holographic postcard, except you'll just have to imagine the 3D effect....

In truth, the 'unveiling' of the Galaxy Squad sets was a bit of an anticlimax for me since they've been on the market for months already and I already own some of them. Certainly the timing of the event seemed a bit odd, although I suppose the much-later-than-average launch of the Galaxy Squad theme in the UK might have something to do with it, and I also suspect that the majority of attendees weren't AFOLs and thus may not have been previously aware of the theme. Regardless of all that, it was really good to be able to see the whole range of sets at close quarters and give them a thorough hands-on playtest with the help of my youngster. I was already a fan of the theme before the event, and now my son's a fan of it too....

I've not previously attended many of these press events so it was an interesting experience; thanks to Elyssa for the invitation to attend, and thanks also to NSC for being great hosts as usual.