LEGO TV Show in the Making

The creators of the LEGO video games are making an all new LEGO Batman TV series, not much is known about it at this time.

New Theme for 2009: Power Miners

A new theme with be released next year, called Power Miners.

Official description from LEGO:

[Launching in January, Power Miners will have year-round marketing support including a full PR campaign focused on the childrens’ press, online marketing, Lego Club campaign, in-store promotions including Toys R Us end-caps from February and FSDUs and window displays for independent stores.

Power Miners features a team of miners that dig into the Earth’s crust and encounter half-rock/half-crystal monsters. The range features collectible vehicles and mini-figures and monsters.]

Sounds a lot like Rock Raiders to me.

September-October LEGO Magazine Shipping

Even earlier than the last issue, reports of the Latest LEGO magazine arriving have been discovered.

Set Review #40: Doc Ock's Hideout

Today we are going to review a set from 2004's Spider-Man 2 theme; set #4856.

THE PARTS: Doc Ock's hideout contains a lot of parts (nearly 500). It is one of the few sets anymore that has a baseplate, used as the water around the docks.

The Dock building has a pretty good size, large enough to use for a lot of action.

An interesting part of the set is the machine inside of the building, it has all kinds of electricity shooting out, and rotates.

THE MINIFIGS: The minifigures are one of the best parts of this set, and it comes with plenty of them.

Doctor Octopus is the most interesting minifig because of his four tentacles, which allow him to climb on the grips all over the outside of the building. The only problem with the claws, is that they loosen up after too much use, and aren't able to hold on as well anymore.

The other interesting minifig is Spider-Man (Also with an out of costume form), Spider-Man is a really great looking minifig, and he comes with a LEGO webline, which can connect to any brick stud, and it works wonderfully.

The Other two minifigs aren't especially interesing.

THE CONSTRUCTION: This is a fun set to build, there's the main building, a small boat, and Spider-Man's catapult, so that he can swing into action.

The construction of the bbuilding is good, it has a lot of secrets, like the breaking wall, and a removable roof.

THE FEATURES: This set has quite a few features. There's the spinning generator, Spider-Man's catapult, and the breaking wall, as shown on the box art.

THE PROBLEMS: This set does have some problems as well though. The building isn't the sturdiest design, but keeps from collapsing, the coloring of the power generator is not very good, it ends up looking out of place with the rest of the set, and Spider-Man's catapult is not too usefull.

FINAL SCORE: Doc Ock's Hideout is a set with a lot of playability, it has a lot of fun items, and even includes a special "radioactive" spider, that hangs on the catapult.

It is a fun set, but may be difficult to find now.

9.2/10

Set Review #39: Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb

Now for our second review in the Indiana Jones series, set #7521.

THE PARTS: This set has a lot of tan parts, snakes, minifig items, and even a little bit of gold. It also includes a skeleton, with new Arms.

THE FEATURES: This set has a lot of features; Falling Statues, which fall down when you ake out an axel, then crash through a wall, revealing the skeleton hanging down.

This set probably has the largest amount of snakes in any LEGO set, at the top there is a small holder for all of the snakes, when you pull down the holder, the snakes four out of it, and onto the characters below.

THE PRICE: This set is a good deal, you get a great set with lots of interesting items for only $19.99.

FINAL SCORE: This is my favorite of the three Indiana Jones set I currently own (others are Set Review #37: Motorcycle Chase, and Jungle Duel, which has yet to be reviewed.), it has a big room, and looks very good on a shelf.

This is a really great set, one of the best of 2008.

9.3/10

Three new LEGO stores open next month!

Next month, three all-new LEGO Stores will be opening, the Store locations are as follows:
Arden Fair Mall, Sacramento, CA
South Shore Plaza, Braintree, MA
King of Prussia Mall, King of Prussia, PA

More information here: http://shop.lego.com/stores/?domainredir=legoshop.com

Still none in my area...

Set Review #38: 8910 Kongu Mahri

Next we have our first Toa Mahri review, I'll start with Kongu, who was the last Mahri I got.

THE PARTS: Kongu has some Metru Green armor pieces, Gray Vahki and Toa Metru legs. One interesting piece is Kongu's "eyes", which are similar to the Metru eyes, but they have a plus slot insead of a back, this is used to build some kind of bulb onto Kongu's head.

THE CORDAK: Kongu has two Cordak launchers, with a ton of red ammo (the only color corday are made in).

THE FEATURES: Kongu's only feature is his two Cordak Blasters, which are far better than the Squid Launchers, which were seen before them.

The Cordak are placed are Placed in the six slots on the blaster, and can be fired rapidly. They work well, though not as much as the Midak Skyblasters or Zamor.

The main problem with the Cordak is that the missiles do not always fire if you don't press the button hard enough.

THE CONSTRUCTION: Kongu was probably the most Original of the Mahri, he has a whole new body design body design, which was later reused for Toa Phantoka Pohatu in 2008, and it does fit a Stone Toa better than a Air Toa.

THE STORY: Kongu was one of the Six Toa Inika who traveled to Mahri Nui to chase after the Mask of Life. The mask transformed them all into the Mahri, so they could survive underwater, where they faced the Barraki, the "Spiny Piraka" (as I mentioned in the Zaktan review), Gadunka, Hydraxon, Makuta Teridax in the form of Maxilos, and much more.

They destroyed the stone cord connecting Voya Nui to Mahri Nui, and were transported back to Metru Nui.

THE MASKS: Kongu has the Mask of summoning, which is a pretty good looking mask.

THE COLORS: Kongu has just enough Metru Green to balance out his Gray, and it turns out quite well, unlike Lewa Phantoka, who had more Gray than green.

FINAL SCORE: Toa Inika Kongu was one of my favorite Inika, but the Mahri version of him is not near as good.

First, he is built more like a Stone Toa (the Mahri did have a strange way of having building styles more suited for different elements), Next, Kongu has no regular weapon, only two Cordak blasters.

Lastly, Kongu isn't too bad of a set, he is actually better than some of the other Mahri, like Hewkii, but not quit as good as some of the Barakii or Piraka.

Kongu's final score is just behind that of Zaktan's; 6.8/10

Set Review #37: 7620 Motorcycle Chase

Up next we have our first Indiana Jones Set review, the Motorcycle Chase.

THE PARTS: The set comes with two motorcycles, it has one standard cycle, made with the bike body, a coving, and wheels. The second Motorcycle is more interesting, it has a side-car, which can break of and work as a seperate vehicle.

THE COLORS: Both motorcycles are Black, with a Dark Gray covering. The small booth is all tan and black, with two brown boxes to hold small items.

FINAL SCORE: This is a good set for the price ($9.99), with three great minifigures, and a lot of nice vehicles and items.

No major problems in the set.

8.4/10

New Playable Character Revealed for LEGO Batman: The Video Game

Several new images of Batgirl from the new LEGO game has been released.

Here they Are:

First 2009 Images

A Brickshelf folder has been found to contain the firse images of the New Pirates, city, and racers for next year.

Link: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=337640

Pirates Return in 2009

Next year, LEGO is finally making a new series of Pirates System sets, for the first time in twelve years (not counting Duplo and 4 Juinors).
So far the sets named are: Brickbeard's Bounty, Cannon Battle, Pirate Survival ("impulse set"), Kraken Attackin', Loot Island, Shipwreck Hideout, and Soldiers' Fort.

Set Review #36: 8903 Zaktan

Next up for our reviews is for another of the Piraka, we previously covered Vezok in April 2006, as set review #11, and Thok ten reviews later.

Today we have Zaktan, who was the leader of the Piraka.

THE PARTS: Zaktan has plenty of interesting parts, the first you notice is the spine; the spine is made of rubbery plastic, and covers the Zaktan's skull, back, and arms. The biggest problem with the spine, is that there are almost no uses for it in custom creations, as it is all one huge piece. Zaktan's spine, is less likely to be "deformed", unlike some of the other Piraka, which can sometimes have spines that seem melted in places, most commonly in Hakann.

Zaktan, like the other Piraka, has light-up eyes, and Glow-in-the-dark teeth.

Zaktan uses the second type of Piraka foot, which is larger, with two toes, and is shared by Thok and Avak.

The only ofther piece not included in any other set is Zaktan's two sided weapon, it is both a tri-blade, and a claw.

THE ZAMOR: Zaktan includes four Zamor, in several shades of green.

THE CONSTRUCTION: Zaktan builds exactly like the other five Piraka; The process only takes a few minutes, but is a very good design. More recently, a good deal of canister sets have reused the Piraka design (as well as the Inika design), these include; Hahli Mahri, Kalmah, Tahu Mistika, and more.

THE FEATURES: As mentioned before, Zaktan has light up eyes, Glowing Teeth, as well as a Zamor launcher, which is among the best working projectiles.

THE STORY: Zaktan was the leader of the Piraka, who were the main villains of 2006. The Piraka were six Skadki (plus Vezon, who was a "double" of Vezok) who left the Dark Hunters, and hunted for the Mask of life.

The Piraka took over the island of Voya Nui, acting as Toa, and defeated the Toa Nuva much to easily.

As they hunted the mask, they faced the New Toa Inika, and lost.

The Piraka were last seen in 2007, where they faced the Inika (now the Mahri) once again. This time, the Piraka had been transformed from water they traveled trough during the hunt for the Mask of Life, and had been reduced to their spines, they were once again defeated.

Untill his transformation, Zaktan (and his weapons) was made of many microscopic protodites, and could separate them to avoid attacks in battle.

FINAL SCORE: Zaktan isn't much different from the other Piraka, besides his coloring of Sand Green and Metru Green, but does have a good weapon.

His spine and short arms also make posing the set a problem, so final score is 7/10

Set Review #35: Bordakh

Welcome to Karza-Nui's 100th post, a review of one of 2004's Vahki, Set #8615: Bordakh.

THE PARTS: Bordakh's head is built of three pieces, plus connectors, there's the main head in the center, the mouth-kanoka launcher, and the special orange 'eyes' that surround it all.
Bordakh's staffs have been used often in the BIONICLE System sets, such as the Battle for Metru Nui. Bordakh and the other Vahki were the first sets in hears to use the original Toa arms, and in a new Color too! They also had the original Toa feet, which were still common at the time, last used in Takanuva. The feet are connected to the Vahki leg pieces, which a bit round.
The Vahki were Clone sets, the only difference between them was the colors, and staffs.

THE KANOKA: Bordakh includes one Ga-Kanoka, with a number at random.

THE FEATURES: The Vahki were the last sets to include a full Gear function, after them, gears had gone out of use completely by 2006, with one 2008 set (Set #8953: Makuta Icarax) using them as part of his weapon.
The gear funtion in this set is similar to that used by the Rahkshi and Matoran (It even uses a Matoran Body), when the knob on it's back is turned, Bordakh will swing it's arms from side-to-side.

THE STORY: The Vahki are the police of Metru-Nui, and were sort of villains for 2004.
Makuta Terridax, disquised as Turaga Dume, sent the Vahki after the Toa Metru.
The Vahki were all destroyed by the Visorak invasion in 2005.

FINAL SCORE: I have always thought of the Vahki as the least memorable of BIONICLE characters, even BIONICLE author Greg Farshtey has called them his least favorite characters.
Bordakh's head is the best part of the set, but I do like the colors of some of the other Vahki better.

6.5/10