Shanghai Surprise

Second only to the original Star Wars trilogy in my cinematic affections, the Indiana Jones films and characters have remained close to my heart for more than 3 decades now. Although it was Set 10188 Death Star that dragged me back into the LEGO fold after a lengthy hiatus, the availability of LEGO Indiana Jones sets at that time undoubtedly fuelled the fire, and I made getting hold of all of the sets an early priority.

Truth be told, LEGO had previously made Indiana Jones sets in all but name anyway - many sets within the LEGO Adventurers theme, which ran from 1998 until 2003, seem to have been blatantly inspired by the Indiana Jones stories, settings and characters, and hero Johnny Thunder (below) was Indy right down to the battered fedora, apart maybe from his dodgy 'tache....

Having recently watched 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for the umpteenth time, it occurred to me that it had been a good while since I'd last built any of my LEGO Indiana Jones sets; it felt like a good time to revisit them, and even perhaps to crack open one that I hadn't previously got around to building. I plumped for Set 7682 Shanghai Chase, which recreates the scene at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when Indy, Willie and Short Round escape from a showdown with crime boss Lao Che and his goons at Club Obi Wan.

You can see the front of the box above (click to enlarge); it's still sealed, but sadly far from mint thanks to unsympathetic handling at some point along the supply chain. My copy was bought from UK retailer Argos back in 2009; my records indicate that I paid £16.32 for the set which is 38% off the RRP of £26.45, so damaged box or not at least I got a discount I suppose.... In common with other sets in the theme, Indy gazes out from the top right corner of the box; other elements of the branding include Indy's trademark whip and a section of an antique map. There's a boxout in the bottom right corner highlighting the five minifigures contained within the set, and the rest of the space is filled with a large image of the models contained within the set, complete with some Photoshopped motion blur and a cobbled road surface. The back of the box (below - click to enlarge) features a close-up of the models, some action shots of the minifigures, and an illustration of the set's play features, all which seemingly involve minifigures jumping into the vehicles. 

The box was sealed with thumb tabs which as usual I ignored in favour of a sharp craft knife under the left end flap. The box contained an instruction booklet and two large bags (numbered 1 and 2), each of which contained a smaller unmarked bag. Bag 2 also contained a white cardboard envelope which I correctly assumed would contain the fabric roof for one of the vehicles. There's no DSS. You can see the front cover of the instruction booklet below (click to enlarge) which recreates the imagery from the front of the box.

The instruction booklet is 48 pages from cover to cover and close to A4-sized. In addition to 38 pages of actual building instructions, the booklet also contains some surprisingly tasteful advertising for other sets in the theme (examples below), plus a one-page inventory of parts, a reminder of the set's play features, and the obligatory pages shouting about the LEGO Club and LEGO survey.

A selection of some of the more unusual and/or uncommon elements to be found in the set can be seen below (click to enlarge). Although there's not exactly an enormous amount here to excite fans of the rare and the exotic, there are a couple of elements which are unique to this set, namely the tan arch 1 x 3 x 2 with curved top and the dark tan fabric vehicle roof. The tan trapezoid flag has only ever appeared in 3 sets including this one, the black 1 x 2 x 2 window can only be found in 4 sets, and none of the elements shown in the picture below including the black and tan vehicle bases have graced more than 8 sets in these particular colours.

The set contains a total of 5 minifigures. First we have Indiana Jones himself, resplendent in a white tuxedo and bow tie. Although every set in the theme contains an Indy minifigure, Shanghai Chase is the only set to contain this particular variant, and the torso is unique to this minifig. The front of the torso is nicely detailed, right down to the red carnation on Indy's lapel, but there's no back-print. The legs are also lacking in any printing, and he doesn't have an alternate expression.

On the upside, in addition to Indy's unfeasibly neat hair we're also we're provided with his trademark fedora (below - click to enlarge). It's a welcome addition - Indy without his fedora just doesn't bear thinking about. OK, so it doesn't really go with his tux, but who cares ?

Any disappointment over the faintly lacklustre Indy minifig is quickly dispelled when you see how much effort has been lavished on night club singer Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott (below). LEGO have produced two versions of Willie, and each is unique to its respective set. In this version, she has a red torso which is printed front and back with an intricate pattern of gold, dark red and black, and the pattern extends down the front of her legs. Both the torso and legs are unique to this set, as somewhat surprisingly is her blonde hair which is nicely topped off with a trans-red tiara.

My abiding memory of Willie in the Temple of Doom movie is of all the screaming she does.... I'm clearly not alone in making that association as LEGO Indiana Jones software developer Traveller's Tales actually utilised Willie's scream as a weapon in the LEGO Indiana Jones games ! Appropriately enough, therefore, Willie has a suitably histrionic alternate expression (below - click to enlarge). You can also see her detailed torso backprint in the picture below.

Next up for scrutiny is Indy's wise-cracking sidekick Short Round (below - click to enlarge). This minifigure, which is the only version of Short Round that LEGO have ever produced, appears in the Shanghai Chase set and one other. The tan torso is unique to the figure, as is the head. Unfortunately, there's no back print on the torso, no alternate expression and no printing on the legs.

The final two minifigures are Lao Che's henchmen. These guys are both unique to the Shanghai Chase set and differ only on the basis of their wonderfully expressive head prints. As well as the minfigs as a whole being exclusive to this set, their heads and smart but simple torsos don't appear anywhere else either. On the downside, neither the heads nor the torso feature any back printing, and the legs are generic and unprinted. Even so, these guys make perfect villains, although thinking back to the movie I think the guy with the maniacal grin should probably have come complete with a machine gun rather than the revolver he's actually provided with in this set.

And so on to the cars. Some rudimentary internet research suggests that the gangsters are chasing after Indy and his companions in a 1931 Reo Flying Cloud, and you can see the LEGO rendition below (pics click to enlarge). Most of the pictures that I've found online of the actual vehicle show it with a side-mounted spare wheel, but otherwise the model seems acceptably faithful to the subject matter. The build is quick and straightforward, making juducious use of hinge plates and a latticed window for the front mudguards and engine grille respectively. The vehicle base is wide enough to allow the two gangsters to sit side by side, and the roof comes off easily to allow access to the rear compartment.

Our heroes are making their escape in an Auburn 851 "Boat-tail Speedster". A reasonable attempt has been made to capture the essence of this curvaceous beauty in LEGO bricks (below - click pictures to enlarge) although it inevitably falls short at this scale. The fabric roof works pretty well, right down to the fact that it's higher at the back than the front like the real thing, and there's even a sunroof for when Indy decides to poke his head out and take a few pot-shots at his pursuers.

You can see both cars together below (click to enlarge); neither are perfect renditions of the real thing by any means, but they're pretty respectable nevertheless; when I compare models like these with the kind of vehicles that LEGO was producing when I was a child in the 1970's it's quite unbelievable how things have moved on.

It all comes together as you can see below (click to enlarge) - everything you need to stage your own Shanghai Chase.... The cars look pretty good, and the minifigures are plentiful for a set of this size. Most of the minifigs are also exclusive to the set, with the Willie Scott minifig being the undoubted highlight from my perspective.

Set 7682 Shanghai Chase was released in 2009 and is now retired. A quick search demonstrates that it's readily available on the secondary market, however, although given the enduring popularity of the Indiana Jones franchise you're likely to have to pay more than the original £26.45 / US$29.99 retail price for it, even used. Thankfully, prices aren't exactly stratospheric as yet, so the set is still within reach - Bricklink prices start at around £40 + shipping for an unboxed example, although you'll pay at least a tenner more if you want it new and sealed; as ever you may find it cheaper on eBay.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed my reintroduction to the LEGO Indiana Jones theme and may dip back in again before too long, so don't be surprised to see another Indiana Jones review at some point.

They're a girl's best friend, darling....

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.

Spoiled for Choice

It seems to me that one consequence of LEGO's stellar market performance over the past few years has been an explosion of new books addressing pretty much every LEGO-related niche you can imagine. Sure, for as long as I can remember there's been a steady trickle of rudimentary fluff aimed at LEGO's target demographic of 5 to 9 year-old boys, but my perception is that as LEGO has grown in popularity there's definitely been more for the older LEGO fan to get their teeth into. As an example, I'm currently reading Brick by Brick which is unashamedly for grown-ups and chronicles the rise, fall and rise of the LEGO company - review to follow on Gimme LEGO in due course - and I previously read and reviewed Sariel's Technic Builder's Guide which was excellent (although certainly not for the faint-hearted). No Starch Press, who published the Technic book, have a number of other LEGO-related releases in the pipeline over the next few months, all of which seem to be AFOL-friendly to at least some extent. The first of these, Amazing Vehicles, dropped into my letter box a week or two back.

Amazing Vehicles is the work of Nathanael Kuipers, formerly a product developer for the LEGO company and the designer of a number of Technic Sets including 8261 Rally Truck and 8292 Cherry Picker, and Mattia Zamboni, a 3D computer graphic artist. The book features ten sets of building instructions for a variety of vehicles, graded according to building difficulty, and all buildable from a common parts palette. Conveniently, all the parts needed to build the models can be found in one relatively inexpensive set - Set 5867 Super Speedster (below) - although the downside is that the set is retired and hasn't been available at retail for some time now.

When I was a boy, I can remember owning a number of books which were filled to bursting with building instructions; they were a source of constant wonderment and I used them so much that they literally disintegrated over time. Wonderful though they were, however, I don't remember the quality of the designs being quite up to the high standard of those filling the pages of Amazing Vehicles - as you can see from the summary of designs below (click to enlarge) they're really rather good.... So good, in fact, that I was moved to try and build some of them.

Unfortunately, my best laid plans were seemingly thwarted, or at least postponed, by the realisation that my copy of the Super Speedster set was buried at the bottom of a cupboard and thus temporarily inaccessible. My young son was not so easily discouraged, however; having taken a keen interest in the book from the moment it arrived, he was adamant that he was going to build model number 6 Historic Racer using parts from his own sets, and I was to be his parts monkey. It was soon evident that my boy didn't have the necessary parts to build the model in the 'correct' colours, however, so we were looking at a BOLOCs scenario. My models haven't been BOLOCs since I was knee high to a grasshopper, but needs must, so I dutifully started to dig out the necessary parts from a large pile of semi-deconstructed sets including Set 6860 The Batcave, a couple of Dino sets and Set 9473 The Mines of Moria, amongst others.

Once I'd located the pieces that were needed, construction proceeded at a reasonable pace; the building instructions are nicely realised, clearly printed and generally easy to follow, although because the build utilises some advanced building techniques (including extensive use of SNOT), I had to step in and help out on a few occasions. Eventually we were done, and you can see the finished result below (click pictures to enlarge).

Although I'm not sure that the riot of random colours does the model any favours, it was an interesting build, and as you can hopefully see, the actual design is pretty decent. It's a tad fragile and won't stand up to extended robust play, but I suppose that when it falls apart we'll then have the perfect excuse to attempt some of the other models....

If I'm being honest, of all the LEGO-related books slated for release over the upcoming months, this was one that I wasn't particularly excited about. Turns out that I was pleasantly surprised, however. The book is nicely printed and feels like a quality product, the models showcased are of a uniformly good standard, the building instructions are generally easy to follow, and the premise of basing a book of building instructions on the parts available from just one small, fairly inexpensive set is I think an excellent one. If there's a downside it's that the set concerned is no longer available at retail, but unless this book creates a massive buzz and drives aftermarket prices of the Super Speedster up to ridiculous levels, it should still be possible to pick up the set from a reseller at a pretty low cost; as things currently stand you can pick up the set for as little as £15 plus shipping in Europe and $35 in the USA via Bricklink, and you'll probably be able to find it for less on eBay if you're patient. Failing that, if you already have some of the necessary parts then you can pick up the rest via Bricklink (the Super Speedster parts inventory can be found here).

In summary, if you like the look of the models featured within the book then I reckon it's well worth picking up a copy of Amazing Vehicles, particularly if you already have the super Speedsters set. The book has an MRSP of £13.99 / $19.95 which seems a tad expensive to me, although it'll no doubt be available at a discount from Amazon et al before long (links are provided below if you wish to order). I note that there's also a second volume of the book available featuring 10 more designs, all of which can again be built from the Super Speedster parts palette; having enjoyed the first book it's pretty likely that I'll check that one out too.

Thanks to No Starch Press for sending me a copy of Amazing Vehicles to review.

;

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.