LEGO Prince of Persia: Quest Against Time Review

I know this set, heck even the movie, has been out for a while. But even so, I felt that this set needed a review.

I was going to take pictures of my set, but Dita Svelte has taken such wonderful images that I am going to use them instead.

I have to admit, I wasn’t really interested in this set. I had all of the other Prince of Persia sets, but this one didn’t look that great. Even after I saw the movie, I didn’t quite understand what this set was all about. Without giving away plot points, the sets aren’t all that accurate to the movie and this one most of all.

I can see why the set designers did what they did, there are lots of “moving” parts like the swinging swords and the rotating blade (which isn’t in the movie by the way).

The light up brick is cool looking and all, but even so, it wasn’t going to tempt me to buy the set.

So, why did I end up buying it? Well, when I was at BrickWorld at the Scratch and Dent LEGO Store Sale that was one of the sets I got. It wasn’t one of my first or even third choices, but as I was in one of the later groups, I didn’t have as much to chose from.

I figured, heck why not? I knew it had some pretty cool parts, especially the lion bricks in nougat — the only set that has them in that color.

But as I sat down and actually built the set yesterday I realized that even if the set is kind of a mess design wise, there are a lot of very useful parts in this set.

Lots of dark bluish gray slopes, dark tan tiles, and great nougat elements come in abundance. The large 8×8 dark tan plates are also a plus.

So overall, I may not like the set itself, but I see it as a great parts pack. All in all the Prince of Persia line is a great theme. Now that I have all five sets, and multiples of more than one of the sets, I highly recommend them.

LEGO City late release 2010

We are starting to see images of a couple new LEGO City sets that will be released later this year.

7848-1: Toys R Us delivery truck

8404-1: City Public Transport

Both of these sets would be wonderful additions to any LEGO collection.

The Toys R Us truck is really cute. Granted it is almost identical to the LEGO City Truck. But even so, it can add a touch of realism to any town layout.

The City Public Transport has a whole bunch of fun details that make this worth while. Postcards in the shop, a green bicycle, and all those fun vehicles make this a very desirable set. You can see more images of this set at Eurobricks.com

No word on when they will be released or how much they will be so stay tuned.

Miniland Ironman

Here is another of my Miniland Superheros series — Ironman. Getting all the armor and colors to look just right was fun. The mask was especially tricky. I had to think about how to make it yellow in front and red in back. I’m pretty happy with the result.

Now if only I could make him light up . . .

LEGO Nighthawks

From the thumbnail it looks exactly like the original painting.

Alex Eylar recreated this classic painting. The lighting and figures he used are perfect.

Then, just because he could he changed all the figures to Spacemen

Everything is better with Classic Spacemen.

Alex isn’t the only one that has recreated images into LEGO, in fact Marco Pece has a whole set of LEGO homage pictures.

Futurama is Back, Baby!

Although I noted Pepa Quin’s Futurama layout in my last post I didn’t notice this mosaic at BrickWorld, probably because it is on the backside.

Futurama is returning to TV tomorrow on Comedy Central after its untimely cancellation many years before on Fox Network. Although it is definitely not for the younger crowd, I’ve been a fan from the beginning.

Even if you are not a fan of the show, this mosaic is impressive. It utilizes a lot of SNOT (Studs Not On Top) techniques and let me tell you from experience, building letters at a slant in LEGO is not easy.

Great job Matt!

BrickWorld 2010 Recap

BrickWorld, what can I say? It was cool, crazy, and a whirlwind of LEGO goodness.

I took about a billion pictures (okay maybe just 600).

Adam Tucker kicked it up a notch by creating a working “wooden” roller coaster.

One of the most enjoyable new challenges was the boat race.

Mike Tighe’s “Fire Boat” although not the fastest, was certainly the most memorable.

Nannen Zhang and Tyler Clites’ Containment Diorama stole the show with its presentation.

It was great finally meeting some of my internet friends from all over the world in person. I met people from Canada, Europe and even Australia. Some of us have been online friends for years, but we had never met face to face.

I really enjoyed Pepa Quin’s Futurama layout, but then I am a big Futurama fan.

I got an exclusive scope from Kyle of BrickForge — new prototypes that should be available within a few months

I have to say the new Centaur body is my favorite.

I’ve got much more to share that will most likely be in several posts. I’m totally exhausted, drained, and still riding the BrickWorld buzz. BrickWorld was everything I thought it would be and more. To check out all my photos of the event go to my Flickr Photostream.

BrickWorld — Thrusday Recap

Hi all! I know I’ve been a little lacking on posts lately, but bear with me, LEGO conventions have a tendency to do that to me.

I arrived in Chicago on Wednesday where I met Beth Weis the one and only female LEGO Certified Professional. She was nice enough to pick me up from the airport. Although we’ve been Facebook friends for quite a while, we had never actually met.

In fact I’ve been having a lot of that this trip, lots of my online friends I am meeting in person for the first time. Beth and I hit it off from the very start and I had a great time spending the evening with her. It was nice to get in a day early and kind of work my way gradually into BrickWorld.

Although BrickWorld still hasn’t officially started, I already have been doing quite a lot. They had a full round of presentations yesterday, but with all the set up and talking I do the only one I managed to go to was my friend Arthur Gugick’s presentation on Art and Architecture. He did a great job at showing off his creations and talking about the process he uses to create them. I even learned a little bit, I found that Arthur and I have very, very different approaches to making a model. Arthur, who is a math teacher by profession, uses many mathematical calculations to come up with his builds. I on the other hand, although pretty good at math myself, go from a more intuitive and artistic approach. Don’t get me wrong, I use math too, to figure size and scale but I don’t go as far as algebra and calculus to do it.

As for the rest of the day it was mostly talking with friends (old and new). I was fortunate enough to go to the LEGOLAND Discovery Center — a topic I will post in detail after BrickWorld.

Okay, I will have much more to post, but for now I’ll have to sign off. There’s lots to do and see.

Off to BrickWorld

“All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go . . .” The words of that song ring in my head this morning as a prep for BrickWorld.

My bags certainly are packed, both of them. I had to go with two in the end, even with those darn baggage fees. Its the only way I can take all the books, keychains, and other items I need to bring.

This will certainly be the start of a new adventure for me, I’ve never been to Chicago. Although I most likely won’t get to see much of it as I will be at the LEGO convention the whole time.

Hopefully I’ll have internet connection so that I can keep you all posted on the goings on.

Where’s the Fire?

Aaron Andrews has made excelent use of the new Clown Collectible Minifigure in this great scene.

I love the clown car, the horns are perfect, in fact this whole scene is pretty perfect. It just made me smile and I had to share it.

Mini Wonder Woman

While my brothers were building Venom and The Incredible Hulk I was also building some iconic comic book characters.

My first of several is Wonder Woman. I distinctly remember watching the tv show reruns when I was a very little girl.

Creating something so recognizable can be a challenge. Its all the little details of color and element choices to get it just right that can be tricky. The only thing non-LEGO is her Lasso of Truth which is made of pearl cotton thread.

I will be bringing her along with several other superheros to BrickWorld.