BlockTales

Ah, Saturday noon and I have nothing to do - so I am going to be kind! This time we have one of the Star Wars 2010 launch sets: 8084 - Snowtrooper Battle Pack!

Here's the entire built set. Quite a bit for £9.99.

Here are the minifigures. Two more Snowtroopers for my army plus an Japanese Soldier FROM SPACE and a new AT-AT driver. All armed with something. It's quite uncommon for this many minifigures in a normal £9.99 set but of course, this is a battle pack.

Both the new figs have back printing. I suppose the Snowtrooper doesn't count but its useful to see what the back of his helmets like.

After some quick experimentation, it seems the the Japanese Soldier has a new faceprint. The one on the right is the Japanese Soldier's face and the one on the left is the common one. Spooky.

This is the Snowtrooper and his Swoop Speeder (Yes, that's the canon name!) Interestingly, the Swoop's build is identical to that of the one in the Battle of Endor set - Just recoloured.

This is the small outpost. It's a very simple build but works.

What really bugs me though is this gap here. WHAT IS IT FOR?!

This is the flick-fire cannon which, despite my hatred for flick-fires, looks quite cool. Especially with the two flick-fire pieces.

The spare parts are quite a standard affair.

The Verdict:

This set is a brilliant battle pack with two brand new exclusive minifigures. Well worth the £9.99. That's if you can actually find it any more.

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Random Stuff:

On a totally different note, the picture of the box with the minifig scale is exactly perfect!

And also, why shouldn't I be allowed to buy this set? Shouldn't it just be '8+'?

Yeah, the first Annual BCN Contest is here. Go click the banner to get taken there. Oh, and I'm judging so use the code 'Her'es my entry!' in your post and then I know I have a reader! You thought I'd cheat you didn't you? Well, you're wrong!

No, seriously, proof of readers is very important to me at this time.

Space has always been a very well respected Lego Theme. Although it is often overshadowed by Lego Star Wars, it still is one of the best. Now, we have Space Police III, as it is known by Lego Fans and this week, we have one of the latest sets: 5981 - Raid VPR!

It doesn't look like much overall...

But look past that and you see this semi-exclusive headpiece with its super-rare red visor!

And look past the Minifigure headgear and notice the Minifigures themselves. Like the rare head, an exclusive recolour and a reprint of the old Blacktron torso!

Delve further though and you will see the back printing on both torso and a head!

But wait! There's more! The set itself is pretty amazing too, which is more than can be said for most sets!

Sure, these stickers don't really need to be there. And believe me, when you first get the set you will agree and come down hard on them...

However, they will argue that they aren't the only stickered parts in the set.

The wing pieces have stickers too! But that's inevitable, considering their size.

And how can you put down a part with this many holes?

Again, you can look past that at the spares. For example, those two transparent-red/blue cheese slopes can be used to adapt the set...

And that I will.

Now, I look at those spare parts again and see a spare of the super-rare red visor! That definitely won't go unnoticed!

Overall, this set is one that doesn't stop impressing.

The Verdict:

This set is a great addition to the Space theme and although people will argue that the Blacktron torso doesn't fit the Black Hole Gang legs and that the head is a recolour instead of a new part, Rench is not the main feature of this set, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise! In a word: Impressive!

At the beginning of 2010 Lego Fans everywhere flocked to buy this small little impulse set. And what's it called, you say? Why, it's the Atlantis-themed 8072 - Sea Jet!

It can easily be said that this impulse is a Minifigure-centred set.

And that's nothing to be ashamed of since under the great helmet is some even greater printed parts. Also, I believe that that head is exclusive.

It also has some great double-sided printing including an gob-smacked expression.

On the subject of the titular Sea Jet, repoving one piece shows how many new parts there are in this set.

However, there is kind of an oxymoron here since the other parts are all pretty average.

That just proves that an impulse set cannot get away with just a Minifigure, which while good is pretty common if you plan to buy the other Atlantis sets.

And although I don't really judge a book by it's cover, the size of the instruction manual shows just how joyless the build was.

The Verdict:

This set is pretty much just spare part fodder. If you plan to buy the other Atlantis sets, the Minifigure is pretty redundant too. So there you have it, Lego have just made a branded spare parts set. That's all it should really be used for unless you are buying it as a one off or just out of impulse.

Well, the title doesn't give away much, but this set is the one set you find after you've already bought 8057 - Wreck Raider and 8073 - Manta Warrior. Yes! It's 852777 - Magnet Set (You know, the Atlantis one)!

Well, it doesn't look that much but looks can be very deceiving.

As usual, the new Magnet Sets are fully removable Minifigures on Stands. As an extra note, I was meant to get the diver with the beard and the eye-patch but for some reason I got this stubbly guy.

The Stands are just as useless as usual except these ones are blue! Great selling point there!

Oh yeah, the Stands also come with blue 1x2 plates attached. I suppose this is because of all three of the Minifigures having extended backs. (The Diver has his oxygen tanks, the Manta Warrior has the tail-thingy and the Shark Man has the fin.)

The Manta Warrior has a interesting face-print under his Manta Head. That looks like the Manta Man could be a fish!

Look at that stubbly man. It's kind of like a yellow skinned Indiana Jones.

With back print!

All three of the Minifigures are armed with weapons which is nice.

However, the quality of these new Trident Pieces isn't very high. They are very bendy and brittle and so the Atlantians just lost the fight to the Diver.

The Verdict:

This Magnet Set is of great value. But most importantly, If you just want the Minifigures, it saves you£2.47 from buying 8057 - Wreck Raider and 8073 - Manta Warrior, which is very good indeed. Definitely worth the £7.99 asking price.