I’ve been subscribing to the Lego Master Builder Academy for a while now. It’s the replacement to the bi-monthly unrelated Lego sets. What’s nice is it means I have a tidy little box of Lego meant for building on a small to micro scale. I keep it beside the couch and on occasion actually get the chance to doodle. This, is one of those.

I’m not sure how it happened, but subconsciously I almost always default to building space ships. I guess because there’s nothing saying how they should look. Except of course, when you get wondering what would happen to the manufacturers of Star Destroyers and Alliance ships if their respective oppressive backers were to topple. Lets face it, lots of good people can get involved with companies that may make something less than pure. Hey, they have mouths to feed t home. This welding job came up. They got the job and they build ships.

So what happens when the Rebels or Brown Coats topple their oppressors? Notice how I refrained from calling these groups what they are? Like Terrorists? These people, going about their business, building ships are out of work. Or are they? That’s the idea behind this interstellar Apartment/Condo building that lacks a name. It’s as if some junkers took a Star Destroyer and a Tohku-Class Cruiser, washed off the blood of the oppressed and turned it in to luxury living.

Breaking free of aerodynamics (space i a vacuum, remember) you can basically build any shape you want. With a towering living quarters and additional decks scattered around the ship there is ample space for residents and crew. Accessed via the front deck so the bridge can also act as tower control, a docking bay allows for residents to make on world visits as they travel through space.

I have no idea if this thing can travel through hyperspace, or create trans-dimensional worm holes to quickly navigate the far reaches of space. I didn’t think it through that hard. ;-)

Anyway, it was a fun little MOC to build while watching the incredibly dumb antics of Storage Wars. So there’s that. Enjoy!

LEGO Star Wars Elite Clone Trooper and Commando Droid B 9488 $12.99

LEGO Star Wars Endor Rebel Trooper and Imperial Trooper 9489 $12.99

LEGO Star Wars Droid Escape 9490 $19.99

LEGO Star Wars Geonosian Cannon 9491 $19.99

LEGO Star Wars Tie Fighter 9492 $54.99

LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter 9493 $59.99

LEGO Star Wars Naboo Starfighter and Naboo 9674 $9.99

LEGO Star Wars Sebulba’s Podracer and Tatooine 9675 $9.99

LEGO Star Wars Tie Interceptor and Death Star 9676 $9.99

I’m fond of 7567 Traveler, if for no other reason, the camera. Photography seems to be the only common point in my hobbies. As I’ve taken photos of any of the other of the things I do, but rarely build a Lego bird for instance.

So this little set, with a person wearing a classic space jacket and carrying a camera presumably through a terminal of some sort makes me smile every time I see it. Much like 5610 Builder, I’ve been sitting on this set for a while. So much so, that it is no longer available on shop.lego.com but you can still find it on Amazon or Bricklink. It originally sold for $3.49 (us), so you can expect to find it in that neighborhood. There’s not a lot to the set. A little cart in which you can put two briefcases that open and a terminal sign accompany the traveler.

The other fun and geeky thing about this set is that it comes all in one bag. Which means you can build it all in the bag. Which, I guess some of the kids are in to doing these days. ;-) There’s not much else to say, so I’ll let the photos speak the rest of the words.

When I first got this set, I only purchased it for the figures. This is one of those sets I bought last winter, harvested the figures out and put the box up stairs and forgot about it. In a recent cleaning of my Lego room, AKA Manland. I discovered a small stash of small sets I had either not opened, harvested the figures out of, or opened and never got to do anything with it. This is the story of one of those sets.

I found 7050 Alien Defender sitting neglected, partially opened and decided I should put it together and see what the intended set was like before integrating the parts in to my collection. I was pleasantly surprised at how neat the little buggy was.

There’s not a high piece count really, but there’s a lot going on with it. There’s a vast array of electronics to keep track of, depicted by decals. The vehicle is a mobile weapons system comprised of 2 flick-fire missiles, and two turret mounted handguns with flare. The overall shape gives the impression that, if this were real, it would be relatively fast.

The alien ship included though, is a little more disappointing. In what looks like not much more than a sit-down hover board, this alien pilot comes to attack with a little ray-gun. Maybe we’re to assume the 2 trans-green 1×1 cones are laser output as well? I can overlook this, as without this ship you wouldn’t have the ability to play out a little battle unless you had purchased another set. Besides, the alien ships in other sets are all much better.

As I said, I originally purchased this for the figures, and mainly the alien at that. I’m always happy to see new and interesting types of minifigures to add to the collection. The alien does not disappoint, despite it’s similarities with what might happen if a pug, bull dog, and alien DNA were to mix. The Alien lacks any paint on the back of the torso, but has an interesting design on it’s head.

Meanwhile, the human member of ADU has painting back and front on both torso and head. Which means you can depict smiling confidence, or that face that tells everyone around it to run. The helmet, coming from the mold for the Collectible Minifigure Series 1 Spaceman is a nice touch. It means you could begin building out different divisions within your Earth Defense lineup. Or you could mix and match helmets from that and the Series 3 Space Villain to signify various specialties or rank.

Box art remains a sore spot in my mind. With two depictions of the main model engaged in various battles, it lacks the alternate models sets of my childhood had and clearly indicates the only way to play with  7050 Alien Defender is through engaging in death and destruction. Mind you, that’s how I’d play with it anyway, but, you know…

Overall the set weighs in at 105 pieces, which are used very well in the defense buggy. At an MSRP of $9.99 (us) it has a decent 9.5 cent per piece rating. If you were to extend a guess, I’d clearly recommend buying the set, as you can tell, I already have. If you’re just looking for minifigures from the series, I’ll share the best priced set for starting your army in the next review of the Alien Conquest line.

The discounts on sets are as follows. There’s too many to link to individually. But if you follow: Save up to 50%. See what’s on sale! You should be taken directly to the Sales & Deals area, and doing so thanks me too! Enjoy!

Early Christmas has been kind to me once again. This year sees another installment in the winter village series. It seems Lego has caught on that people want to make villages for the holidays out of their bricks, and have started producing a series of sets with town buildings caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

This year’s Winter Village Post Office is a nice addition to the collection. True to form, it comes with a semi-detailed interior which you can light up with the included light brick. The roof comes decorated with snow and you get two postal workers. I get a kick out of the option of turning the woman’s head between a smiling face and a scowling one. I chose the scowl, since this reminds me most of the Durham post office. (Even though it’s not my hometown, it’s the one I’m likely to use if I need to mail something at lunch.)

Of all the elements of the set, I’m drawn most to the mail truck that the two workers can use to deliver packages to the towns folk. It reminds me a lot of the mail truck found in Santa Claus is Coming to Town, though it lacks the tracks and skids. Just the same it’s a neat little jalopy that carries a few packages, and some snow shoes in the event the truck gets stuck in the snow. Although, these days, I’d expect if the postal service got stuck in the snow, they’d just head home.

The set also features a gazebo with two musicians playing a tune for all to hear. One carries a banjo and the other, a brick built brass instrument I believe is a saxophone. I found this to be the most challenging piece to build as the ’round’ construction and 4 posts made it interesting to line up where the roof would connect. I’m still not entirely sure I built it correctly, but it hasn’t fallen apart yet.

The set also comes with a few trees and and a bench for folks to sit down on and take in the activities of the town. Lego included plenty of little white 1×1 round tiles to use in an epic snowball fight. Really the set has plenty of playability and makes a fine addition to the Bakery and Toy Shop released in years past. The set comes in with 7 minifigures and a dog. The new dog at that, with the painted and sculpted face. Only one head comes with two expressions. The female postal worker, which I recognize the face from last year’s Kingdom’s Advent calendar queen. Two torsos come with painting on the back and some don’t have any at all, which I found a bit interesting.

Overall it’s a pretty good set. I’m guessing that if I had not had the ‘help’ of our 17 month old toddler, who insisted that things like the railing from her Duplo Zoo must absolutely fit on the post office mid build, the set would take an hour or two at most to build.

The set is definitely targeting a bit of an older audience as it returns to basics with 8 unnumbered bags. Some of which, contained smaller bags of bricks in them. That being said though, a sure sign of a quicker build was the single manual, thankfully packed with cardboard to protect it. Thank you again Lego. This is the one instance I’m all for a little more packaging, as manuals were shipping mangled or destroyed all together as box sizes got smaller. At an MSRP of $69.99(us) the price seems a little high, but after building the set it seems reasonable. I just hope in the future, Lego keeps the price point around $50-60 or this serialized village may come to an end of collecting for me.

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9440 Venomari Shrine is a small set packed with action. Containing 86 pieces, this set is surprisingly complex for it’s size. The shrine itself is a rather sturdy little vignette with a painted snake head. It contains two flick-action snakes waiting to spring on our little ninja. (See video for flick action)

This set also introduces a new brick element. Long standing 1×2 bricks now get a carved treatment to indicate bricks or stones being stacked. Each side has a different pattern which will line up with each other to give a good amount of possibilities for a facade.

The real star in my opinion, is the ninja. We see a slightly new spin on the classic ninja with an emblem on his head, painted front and back, and shoulder pads that always remind me of Shredder from TMNT. The spiked shoulder pads also have a piece that comes down the back to hold his katana and the serpent staff once successfully stolen.

Overall this is a pretty awesome little set. At $6.99 MSRP this set beats the heck out of the $10 spinner figures and comes with some pretty awesome accessories.

There’s been a lot keeping me from building lately. Most of them being very good, exciting things in life, but it doesn’t mean I don’t miss getting to play with the brick a little. One of the things I realized that was keeping me from building is convenience and safety. With the addition of a little one to the family, it’s just not safe to keep Lego laying around to play with on a whim. Well, anything other then the Duplo we buy for her, which does indeed lay around now, underfoot, waiting to bite your bare feet.

So I recently decided to remedy this situation. I realized the first part, convenience could be solved by just bringing some Lego back down to play with. Safety, however, did need a little thinking and a minor purchase. I knew I needed a container that I could keep the lid on and keep our little one out of if we weren’t right with her. A trip to Target and a walk down the storage isle surfaced the Sterilite Large Clipbox. This container was perfect. I’ve learned from the past, you don’t want anything too deep or you just can’t find anything in it. So I grabbed this and when I returned home filled it with pieces that would lend itself to building microscale.

Sure enough, this tactic has worked. In the last week, I’ve churned out 5 mediocre models. I say mediocre, because I’ve set out for now just to doodle. Which means I’m focusing on building quick little models just to get the rust off my imagination. Just like any hobby, if you put it aside for a while, it takes a little ramp up time to get back to the skill you were at.

Regardless of quality, this tactic is a sure fire way to help you out of the dark ages and get building again. Happy building!

Check this out. A coworker is into a racing thing here in the US where you have a $500 limit on your car, and your run it in a 24 hour race. Themes are key… Someone did a brick theme… Check out this specific one:Many more pictures if you sift through the New England entries in http://jalopnik.com/search/lemons/

After a few quick questions, he located their site boxybutgood.us.

What makes the car so cool is it’s design. Based on a volvo and designed to look like a Lego model. I haven’t obtained permission to skank any photos yet, so for now, you’ll just have to head over and see this mad beast for yourself.