Thursday, April 4, 2013

Reasons NOT to live in LEGO® City

CITY has always been one of The LEGO Group’s top selling themes and it is also my personal favorite. When given a glance, it seems like the perfect ‘boy toy’. What’s not to love about building your own city? However, when the demographics of LEGO® CITY are examined more closely, it seems like this place would be an absolute horrific place to live if you were a minifigure. Please take into fact that I have nothing against LEGO® CITY, it’s just that there is a stark contrast when it is compared to a city of our modern day and age. All of my information is taken from Brickset.com and only pertains to CITY sets released in 2012. When all of this is examined, the following are the results from my demographic census:

According to Brickset, there were 42 CITY sets released for 2012. Of these 42, 35 contain unique sets. In these 35 sets, there are 46 vehicles, 8 pieces of aircraft, 2 boats, and one uncategorized mine crane. This means there are 57 things with motors. Of the 46 vehicles, there are only 8 cars and 38 trucks. This means the ratio of cars to trucks is 1:4.75.

In the 35 sets, there are 84 people. Of these 85 people, it appears that only 11 are females and 74 are males. That means the female to male ratio is 1:6.73.

Of the 35 sets, 19 have to do with some kind of emergency: 11 police sets, 6 fire sets, and 2 hospital sets. Within the police sets, there are 8 robbers and 18 policemen, (no police women). We can only guess what these robbers are in jail for, (arson anyone?). There are also 12 firefighters. Of all of the minifigures, only 12 appear to be regular citizens, as opposed to working in some kind of profession. There are also only 5 crude buildings throughout the entire 35 sets.

Based on all of this information, we can draw some valid conclusions:

There are almost 7 males for ever female. 83% of the vehicles are trucks or vehicles for work. There are almost as many criminals as there are women. There are 5 crude buildings in the entire city.

Reasons not to live in LEGO® CITY
·         A large male population

·         A lot of pollution from so many trucks

·         Nowhere to live

·         Almost a dozen pyrotechnics constantly breaking out of jail

·         Only 7 trees, half of which are always on fire

LEGO® CITY needs some major reform before I would even consider living there. Safety, housing, discrimination, and health are my major concerns about LEGO® CITY. Until these things are fixed, and a government is established, I would not encourage anyone to move to this city. So where else could I live in LEGO® Universe? Chima? Nope, constant tribal fighting. Ninjago? Never, an endless battle. STAR WARS? No thanks, too much war for my tastes. Kingdoms? Too much feudal warfare. Galaxy Squad? No way, huge bugs! The only safe place seems to be Friends. It looks like it has everything CITY doesn’t: Trees, cars, housing, and no criminals. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I would much rather live in Heartlake City that LEGO® CITY. I’d be surrounded by women, but hey, we all have to make sacrifices. J

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

9470 Shelob Attacks


9470 Shelob Attacks is the second smallest Lord of the Rings sets. It is based on the middle scene from The Return of the King. It is priced at $19.99 USD and contains 227 pieces. I was able to get mine on after Christmas clearance for $15.91. Considering it is a licensed set, it is actually a pretty good value. The box contains four bags and the directions. The bags contain two cardboard boxes, one with two capes and the other with string. Gollum is also packaged in a separate little bag within one of the larger ones.
The set contains two minifigures, (three if you count Gollum). Frodo and Samwise Gamgee are included in this set. Both of their heads are two sided so Frodo’s can be turned to symbolize him inside Shelob’s web. There are also two rings, two swords, a fish for Gollum, and Sam’s starlight bottle symbolized by a crystal.
 
The first part of the build is a small vignette for Gollum. It includes a launcher to fling Gollum towards the hobbits. There are also two dark green vines attached to it, pieces you don’t see every day. It is very well detailed and works great.









The next part of the build is Shelob’s main body. It looks great except for the bulky Bionicle piece towards the back; though I think it is necessary to get her web to work. The next part is Shelob’s legs and more of her body.
 
After that, the bottom part of Shelob’s web cavity is built. Once her web cavity is built, the actual web and spinner is added. Her web cavity is then covered and attached to her body.
The completed set looks amazing, including Shelob herself. A number of rarer pieces and the fact this is a licensed set make it a great buy. It is bigger and much more intricate than the smaller 9469 Gandalf Arrives. The only thing that seems a little weird is her web cavity. It seems a little out of proportion when compared to the original source material. Shelob is miraculously stable, despite her fragile appearance. This is another great Lord of the Rings set.
 

Price
O O O O
Playability
O O O
Minifigures
O O O O
Building Experience
O O O O
Parts
O O O O
Overall
3.8

 

Monday, March 11, 2013

9469 Gandalf Arrives

 
9469 Gandalf arrives is the smallest of The Lord of the Rings boxed sets and is based on the opening scene from The Fellowship of the Ring. It contains 83 pieces and is priced at $12.99 USD. I got mine at an after Christmas sale for $10.31. This 20% savings was what hooked me into purchasing this set. The box contains two bags and a new LEGO horse with moveable back hips.
The set contains two minifigures, Gandalf the Grey and Frodo. The build itself is surprisingly interesting for such a small set. The sides of the wagon in particular look incredible. It functions quite well and stays true to the movie. Within the wagon is a letter addressed to Merry, a carrot, and three fireworks, one of which looks suspiciously like a snake.
When seated in the front of the wagon, Gandalf does not fit comfortably with his cape on. I would suggest removing the cape before seating him to minimize creasing on the cape. Another thing I would have like to see is the point where the wagon and horse connect should turn. It isn’t very realistic when playing to have no points of motion besides the wheels. There also aren’t any reigns for Gandalf to control his wagon with. He must have a trusting horse! Besides these few flaws, the set is truly a great buy and packs a lot of detail into such a small space. All of my future reviews will rate the set based on studs. Zero is the worst while five is the best. This set rates as follows:
Price
O O O O
Playability
O O O O
Minifigures
O O O O
Building Experience
O O O O O
Parts
O O O O
Overall
4.2