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Quick Review 1374 Green Goblin, Quick thoughts 7133 Bounty Hunter Pursuit &
7153 Jango Fett's Slave I
1374 Green Goblin Studios Spider-Man set
Although I was a Spider-Man reader back in the late sixties and moving
forward in time, it's been a long time since I picked up a Spider-Man book.
And I probably won't see the movie until DVD time. As a consequence of
these two facts, this short review doesn't much account for comic book or
movie accuracy of the set reviewed. I am just looking at the set as a
builder and thinking of what I might do with the set or the parts.
Overall, I think this small set is a good value for $7, and an even better
value for less. At a BOGO 50% sale, I will be getting a few more. The more
interesting yet still fairly common elements include some curved slope
elements from Racers and Alpha Team -- this time in a newish silver color,
trans-orange miniheads, trans-orange flame elements, trans-antifreeze 1x1
cylinders, those four pronged elements useful for making street lights in
black, a smattering of tan elements, some click-hinges, and the two
minifigures. The silver elements of this set are perhaps of the same
plastic used previously in Technic, but I am not sure. What I do know is
that the color is mottled and approximates a color currently used by Mega
Bloks, except that MB's silver is slightly darker in tone; and that the
plastic feels lighter or of slightly lesser quality than the traditional ABS
TLC has used for some time in the making of their elements. The real reason
to buy this set is for the minifigures. The female minifigure, which I
merely assume is supposed to be Mary Jane Watson or something like that, is
pretty cool. I am not sure that I have noticed any orange hair elements
before, so this set may have this as a first. This figure also has a dark
red torso, waist, and legs. The minihead is printed well and has two faces,
one a happy cute face and the other a fearful despairing face; and obviously
while one face is directed forward the other faces backwards. The idea of
two faces on a single minihead is probably a good one assuming that
additional elements cover the face not being used. The goblin minifigure is
pretty cool if you are looking for a lizard-man figure. It's worth
mentioning that the main color of this figure is a lighter green than the
average green TLC uses more commonly, and only the hands and waist are of
that more common green color. The reverse of this torso has a more generic
pattern that might be used for other things. The figure also comes with a
somewhat oversized mask that is his "goblin" mask and an intriguing element
that attaches around the neck and extends down the back. I like the idea of
a separate element as a mask that also allows the minifigure to be used for
other things with the regular minihead. The element that runs down the back
is L-shaped: one side has a hole for the neck, the other side places a
single stud on the back of the figure. Some of you may realize why I might
have unusual interest in this element if you have ever seen my original web
page during the last 2-3 years (I recently moved it to
http://www.ozbricks.com/blaktron/1313/) -- yup, right there you will see my
long-standing wings attachment element. The difference here is that the
Goblin's element is actually less useful for having just the one stud! The
last element worth noting is the trans-clear element that is basically a 1x2
plate attached to a 12 long rod with a duel 1x1 round plate/spear end on the
other side. I like unusual elements like this one inasmuch as they allow
for sturdy attachment of flying or levitating MOCs in certain kinds of
designs. If I had any complaints at all, it might be that the trans-orange
miniheads should probably have been pumpkin heads -- but this is a comic
book continuity issue and I might be confusing different versions of the
goblin -- I can't recall. I certainly would have had more use for pumpkin
heads than trans-orange ones.
7133 Bounty Hunter Pursuit & 7153 Jango Fett's Slave I
I am not a huge fan of the SW movies, and I probably won't see the film
until its on DVD. So as above, my comments do not consider the movie
accuracy of these sets. I am just looking at the sets as a builder and
thinking of what I might do with the sets or the parts.
The 7133 set really needs to be judged in two parts; and as another lugnut
has rightly opined, this set should really have been two smaller sets even
though I DO actually like both designs equally well. I'll start with the
part that I have the least complaints about and that is the one that looks a
yellow hover-cab. The design is quite cool and includes numerous elements
in unusual newer colors. While the orange-brown is most welcome on
minifigures, I am not sure I will have a good use for elements in this color
unless we are given a much greater variety of elements to choose from. Even
though the design uses a few Jack Stoned/Racer elements, I think the use is
neither excessive or distracting -- in fact, I'd say the elements were used
sparingly and cleverly. The design also includes a great use of the r2-d2
cylinder element, but admittedly TLC's designers are able to get them in
black while we builders have been suffering with white. I can't compare the
resulting design with it's film counterpart, but to my eyes the design was a
little long towards the front -- I am sure to squash the front end with my
own variant design. I REALLY like the second design of this set a lot, as I
often build spaceships as modified "Y" bodies with the forked part of the
shape aimed forward. This design includes a much wider and longer curved
slope than we have seen before and makes use of some interesting color
choices including dark and light greens, trans-black (slopes and curved
slopes!), and orange. What is inexcusable about this set is the Jack Stoned
flop over canopy, and the fact that the design does NOT accommodate the
pilot figure (such flaws put TLC squarely on par with Mega Bloks, BTW).
Since this design also incorporates a fairly clever removable wing design, I
was quite disappointed in the canopy and cockpit design in general. Don't
miss the variant design on the back of the box though, a kind of futuristic
helicopter that can be made with the elements present in the set. I picked
up a damaged box of this set on sale at Target yesterday for $20 and at that
price it's a pretty sweet deal. Most of you in the U.S. can score it $25 at
Target this week.
The 7153 set means almost nothing to me except as parts. And if you bother
to build the set you will be VERY annoyed with the flimsy design (whole
modules collapse under the mere pressure of fitting other parts together)
and a forgotten bottom-side (flat, flat, flat!). Those of you looking for
an air-tight design should look elsewhere -- here your minis will choke in
the near vacuum of space. Yet, the set comes with many interesting elements:
a great curved trans-black canopy, great additions to your curved slope
collection (let's face it, some of us are thinking about curved roofs at
this point), dark blue elements, white and dark grey macaroni, yellow
inverted 1x2x3 slopes (not seen in a while), 2 and 3 high white slopes,
click hinges, 4 1x1 tiles, and even the best Jack Stoned elements. Get 'em
while their red hot at $25 USD at Target/U.S.A. Pretty much the deal no
matter what you do.
What I have been most happily surprised about during the last few months has
been the rather impressive and fairly thorough roll-out of curved slope
elements. At first I was reluctant to embrace these elements as I thought
we would be denied the "other" elements that would make sense of these new
curved slope designs. Thankfully, TLC has wisely had an eye on the
situation and done all the right things so far. One can only hope that it
was smart marketing rather than panic-stricken damage control that has tied
together these Alpha Team curved slopes, with Racers and Jack Stoned
elements. We need more of these curved elements for sure, but I have my
fingers crossed that TLC will continue to do the right stuff with these designs.
[Aside to TLC designers: Think SYMMETRY!]
-- Hop-Frog
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