1 comments about LEGO Star Wars Anakin's Fighter.

1. I purchased several star war themed lego sets for my 7 year old grandson's birthday. I was very impressed with how great they look and hold together. He needed a little help putting them together but loved them and can't wait to get more.

1 comments about Ultimate LEGO DUPLO Building Set.

1. My three year old daughter loves these blocks. I like them because they are compatable with the Lego Quatro, which have been her favorites for the last two years. They won't build the big structures you are used to building with quatro, but they have more variety to spark the imagination. My only complaint is there doesn't seem to be enough, they could have put twice as many blocks in this bucket!

2 comments about LEGO Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb.

1. This set is a nice little Indiana Jones set. You get the lost temple, two Anubis statues that Indy can topple and break through some walls, although you don't get the extra room with all the corpses, but there is a snake trap that dumps snakes into the room. You also get the Ark of the Covenant and of course Indy and Marion Ravenwood.



2. Lego's teach patience and following directions. My grandson, at 5 1/2, has conquered sets past the age recommended on the package. It gives us time together, working quietly and talking about "Lego's and Life" while watching him get the satisfaction that he actually built the toy he gets to play with. We also glue many of the parts to make them more durable in his play scenarios.

4 comments about LEGO Indiana Jones Motorcycle Chase.

1. my son is eight and had no problems putting the toy together. He is enjoying playing with it and retelling the movie. He cannot wait until the other sets are in stock so that he can add them to his collection.



2. I've been a Lego and Indiana Jones fan for years; when I saw that this line was going out, I decided that it was the perfect way to prepare for the new Indiana Jones movie in may. I was right.
   
   Let's face it, the thing you really want in any Indiana Jones set is Indy itself (whit his fedora, gun, whip, and attitude); every set in the line has him, but I really don't like their diorama style construction, I would rather prefer to have some complete construction similar to other lego toys. This reduce it to this set or the one with the truck.
   
   I choose this set because a) it's the cheapier set of the line, b) it also comes with Henry Jones senior, and thats a very cool character and c)a motorcycle with sidecar it's a very classy vehicle.



3. This Lego set is so cool. My son absolutely loved it (7 years old). I really liked it too, as I am a big fan of the previous Indy movies and this set is so detailed. The price is great, you can't go wrong. A+++



4. Lego's teach patience and following directions. My grandson, at 5 1/2, has conquered sets past the age recommended on the package. It gives us time together, working quietly and talking about "Lego's and Life" while watching him get the satisfaction that he actually built the toy he gets to play with. We also glue many of the parts to make them more durable in his play scenarios.

4 comments about LEGO Star Wars Rebel Scout Speeder.

1. This set is essentially a made up, really chunky vehicle that's just something to go with these TO DIE FOR minifigs. The main set, the speeder, can carry 3 rebel troops, 4 guns, (2 pistols 2 rifles) and a Heavy blaster turret. The 4th minifig is suppose to walk or run alongside the speeder with his pistol or rifle. The turret slides off the back and is probably meant to secure a certain area before being picked up later on. The rebel minifigs can go on the speeder in various ways. First one trooper can drive it, one can act as a co-pilot, one can man the turret, but one has to just jog alongside. The minifigs themselves are the first of they're kind. LEGO has never made rebel helmets so snatch this set up while you still can.



2. The most awesome thing about this set is the minifigs that come with it! For the first time ever, you have rebel scout minifigs! And not just one or two, but FOUR! Pretty cool. The set is a smaller one, so it is quick and easy to build. The speeder is nice and the best design feature is the turret which easily moves 360 degrees (spins all the way around - again, can I use the word "cool"). It's actually fantastic for a smaller set. The kids say that for play it is very compatible with the other new small set that comes with the troopers.



3. I got this set today and put it together here is what I think about it
   Pros.
   
   #1:the set comes with remels now that rocks!
   #2:It has a turret that spins 360 degrees
   #3: I like speeders
   
   Cons.
   The turrett seems to come off easily and frequently.



4. I got this toy about a week ago and I expected a lot worse, but it is GREAT!!! The rebels are cool, but their arms come off easily. The ship is easy to build, and is fun to play with. In order to have a battle though you need the Imperial Drop ship. It can fit four guys (three in the cockpit and one in the turret)and, comes with four guns (two pistols and, two rifles and guys to shoot them). the speeder is a little flimsy though and can come apart easily. It is cool!!!

5 comments about LEGO Clone Troopers Battle Pack 7655.

1. My nephew is mad about Star Wars and at 7 is just getting into Lego in a bigger more involved way. My son also has this and he just loves it. Lego keeps him occupied for hours at a time and he loves to display finished items in his room (we are running out of shelves). Very long lasting and very good value for money.



2. This is one of Lego's smaller add-on packs to a Star Wars collection that can be used as a stand-alone product, too. Small, fun and it helps build up your clone, or stormtrooper, army. My seven year-old loves to build this, or take it apart and add the pieces to other sets. Also, we use the clone troopers and the stormtroopers interchangably. Overall, this is a great toy. Highly recommended.



3. very good toy I bote this at a local target and with a droids battle pack I have a revew on that to very durable and is probaly my best lego I have!



4. My 7 year old son loves his Legos star wars kits. He's got a bunch and the battle packs mate well for scenario play with them. Legos has been promoting the battle packs in the Legos club magazine so the odds your your kid already knows about the battle packs and wants them. No matter what Star Wars Legos kits s/he has this will augment it.
   
   The Battle Packs are worthwhile as stand alone toys too - especially for travel. The trouble with the big Legos kits for take along play is that they tend to break up in pieces during play and a lost piece is a disaster. The Battle Packs are small and simple (and cheap). These can go with you. They are the correct size for making an airline seat back a battlefield. Heartily recommended.



5. My son just picked this Star Wars lego set up from his birthday. For 15 bucks at the local toy store, what a bargain. A few regular action figures would have cost the same, but with the lego set my 5 year old son learns to assemble things, gets a speeder and turret in addition to the Republic troopers--too cool! We're having a great time.

5 comments about Ultimate LEGO Building Set.

1. We love this kit. My 4 year old plays with it for hours and makes all sorts of interesting vehicles and machines. We honestly never have noticed a lack of base plates as some reviewers noted. The other complaint was the lack of fullness for the box. I admit we felt the same for about 5 minutes until we realized we finally had a great place to store all the other small sets of lego we had accumulated. I think Lego was smart to allow extra space. Anyway, people should lighten up and let the kids just play. I know we all loved lego growing up, but are the kids disappointed, or just the parents?



2. I wish these people would stop complaining, yes, Legos are getting expsensive, but it is what it is people...
   
   Kit came delivered as advertised, and on time I add.
   
   Me and my son had a BLAST!!! Yes, we will be buying more. The box is HUGE and would EASILY hold 5 of these kits.
   
   My son is happy, thus, I am happy.
   Lego quality is impecable.
   This is such a no-brainer buy, yeah it costs a lil more than you expected, so what, your kid(s) will love it.
   
   Its LEGO's, what else do I say??? LOL... but yea, this is the big kit, enjoy!



3. No they are not cheap. No the box isn't full to even half capacity. But these toys are still around for a reason: they rock. More specifically, they are indestructible, offer immense replay value, encourage creative quiet and thoughtful play, promote fine motor skill development, and they are just plain fun.
   
   Think about the countless cheap $3.99 and $4.99 soft plastic throw away toys you've bought over the years: invariably imported and with unknown lead content, cost pennies to make, including the polly pockets, fairies, mermaids, bratz, little ponies, strawberry shortcakes, littlest petz, etc. All of those toys are very restrictive in the type of play they permit, fall apart, and lose your child's interest after a few days.. until you buy another worthless set for their next "fix."
   
   In the case of legos i would argue that if you just refrain from buying those cheap blister packed toys for a few months you will have saved more than enough to get this or another "flexible" set of legos. I don't care for the elaborate lego sets that have you follow intricate instructions to build a pirate ship, or harry potters house, or a star wars backdrop,etc. Those are just as restrictive and inflexible in their play.
   
   So get this set or something similar as soon as you are sure your kid won't choke on a brick. It is something they will play with now and in the future. You'll beat inflation, you'll have it for future kids you might have, or those who might visit, and it will always have excellent resale value on e_bay.
   
   As for the merits and value of this particular set, i think it is fairly reasonable relative to prices for used, bulk collections you might get on an auction website, or compared to the more expensive, larger, thematic sets - such as the "townhouse", lunar lander, or whatever. It has 4 wheels, 2 axles, 1 figure (a mechanic dude), a set of mini tools for the figure, 1 door, 2 windows, some clear pieces for windshields or windows, a propellor/windmill piece, a radiator grille, a cute mini steering wheel, and assorted bricks including some long ones. The base unfortunately isn't even standard height, but sort of a cheap 1/5 or 1/4 height. So that's a little lame. So it isn't perfect but i can't find a better variety pack for the price. Although the Lego 4+ Basic Bulk Set might be a good second set to consider.
   
   We got this set to augment the pink little girls set with the jump rope on the box. Together they are a reasonable set but its still a small collection. I would contend that similar to the defense department maintaining an army that can fight a war in 2 theatres at once, you should have enough legos to build 2 houses at once. That is unless you have more than 2 kids...



4. My 4 year old loved the duplo set he's had since he was one. He loves to build things based upon the pictures provided. We got him this set to see if he'd still like the smaller ones too. He does.
   
   This set has a lot of instructions and sample pictures for him to build. Herein lies the problem. Not all of the sample pictures can be built with the pieces provided in this set. Some pictures show parts that aren't in this set or they show the picture using more of the same part than what this set provides. This has proven to be a bit frustrating for my son who loves making it look just like the picture.
   
   That being said he still loves his Lego set. With a younger 2 year old brother we've had to restrict its use to when his brother is sleeping as there a LOT of small 1x1 parts in this set. It can be challenging for a 4 year old to find such small parts in the big pile.
   
   Also it wouldn't hurt to provide another set of wheels or two as my son loves making the vehicles and you can only make one at a time.



5. This is such a fabulous starter set for Legos. It has all the right "boy" parts in it including airplane propellers, race car steering wheels, etc. This set is very well loved in this house and has built everything from race tracks to helicopters. Great, great fun and provides HOURS of entertainment. If you are getting these for a true Lego afficionado, be sure to pick up a couple of them. It has quite a few pieces but to truly build a bunch of stuff, you'll need more. Wait for a sale, however, Easter and Christmas usually provides a great sale at the giant toystore with an r in the name. Watch Amazon too - they knock ten bucks off the price every now and then! Highly, highly recommend!

5 comments about LEGO® Road Construction Set.

1. This is great! My 4 year old has had a blast with it. We sat down and worked through the well-diagramed instructions to build the dump truck, loader, and steam roller in little more than an hour the first time, about 30 minutes the second time. He did it with very little help considering he's newly 4. I would tell him, "find a skinny red piece with 4 bumps" (good for counting and description). He'd find it, then look at the picture and he'd figure out where it went with minimal help (good for following directions). There are several pieces left over to scoop up and put in the dump truck or to build other things. The booklet gives detailed instructions to build the three vehicles pictured, and shows pictures for various other things you *could* build, but they're too complex to just "figure it out" without directions, (that's why I decided to give it 4 stars instead of 5) so basically you just have a bunch of extra legos to make houses or scoop-and-dump. But the good thing is you can make all three vehicles at the same time--you don't have to take one apart to use the pieces to make the other.



2. We bought this for our four year old son for Christmas and he absolutely loves it. He can't build the vehicles by himself but that doesn't bother us as we get down on the floor and play with him anyway. The part that hooks up the bulldozer to the vehicle got kind of bent so it doesn't stay on as well as it did, but we're planning on buying a second set anyway so he can build more of the vehicles at once that are listed in the booklet. You can build all three of the vehicles pictured at once with what is in the box, but if you lose parts (like we have)you can't and you'll have to be a bit more creative with your building skills. This is by far his favorite Christmas present. I wish Lego would come up with more sets like this that are fairly simple for younger children (and their parents).



3. We just purchased this set for our 5-year old. He loves it. We wanted to get him a lego set - there's so much out there and we just weren't sure what to choose. But since he LOVES trucks of all kinds, we thought this might be a good start, and it is. It is a nice amount of legos, but once you build all three trucks, you'll want more legos to build so much more. So like I said, it's a great introductory set.



4. What a wonderful set! This has the best of all worlds: a set of general-use bricks that are great for creative play, very good designs for some fun vehicles, and a reasonable price. I think this is the best of the creative-play sets that Lego is offering right now (early 2008).



5. Legos are a wonderful toy for kids to develop their imagination while also working on fine motor skills. Plus, they're just plain a lot of fun.
   
   This set includes enough bricks to make three different construction vehicles - a bulldozer, a road grader and a dump truck - at once and still have a handful left over. When I saw the low price for this set, I was concerned that the vehicles were going to be tiny, but each is about the size of a softball (instead of a Hot Wheels) when assembled. The box itself is about 10"x10"x"3", so it's also nicely-sized for gifting.
   
   Every child is different, but our five-year-old had next to no problems with the parts in this set, i.e. while there is a good variety of brick sizes, but nothing overly complex. The instructions are typical Lego picture-based and lend themselves toward teaching kids the basics of following a plan, looking for visible patterns, and counting dimensions of Lego bricks. Of course, making the vehicles on the box is enjoyable, but the real fun begins when your child begins creating new ones right from his/her own mind.
   
   If your 4+ year-old enjoys building blocks, creative play, and/or especially construction vehicles, then this is a can't-miss. The only downside is that you'll probably soon find your child's room taken over by more and more Lego sets!

5 comments about LEGO Mindstorms NXT.

1. All the LEGO positives - modularity, durability, design - are there. On board memory is somewhat limited, but this should help in learning to write creative and efficient programs - to design bot's for very specific tasks. It's still somewhat new - so I've yet to build to my own designs; the models & programs that come with the kit definitely help understand the possibilities. A good investment - expandable and with tremendous potential.



2. Introduction to Lego and the Mindstorms NXT
   
   The Lego Group is a manufacturer of toys and construction kits which has been around for exactly 50 years as of this writing. In the 1990's, Lego created a line of basic robotics design and programming sets (deemed "Mindstorms"). These sets generally consist of a processing unit and various Lego pieces for building, motors for moving, and sensors so that the processing unit is able to know what's going on around it. When the Mindstorms series was created, no other company offered a do-it-yourself robotic creation kit, and as of today there is no other product out there that offers a kit like this that includes everything needed to create simple to mildly complex robots.
   
   The latest of these sets is the Mindstorms NXT, which is the second set in the series that allows for complete programming on a personal computer. With a slogan of "Build and Program Robots that Do what You Want," the Lego Group advertises that the set includes 577 building pieces and a new "intelligent brick" with a 32-bit microprocessor and more FLASH memory for storing programs and other files. It also advertises a new ultrasonic sensor and sound sensor, as well as built in rotation sensors for each of its three included motors. At $249.99, this kit may sound pricy, but educational and scientific products with similar capabilities to the components of this set often sell for more.
   
   General Design and Function: Neutral Statements
   
   The first aspect of this product that I noticed, and also one of the more important changes to be aware of compared to past Mindstorms sets, is that everything about this set is larger. The processing unit is about 20% larger and the sensors are on average about twice as large. The motors are about 3 times as large as the previous motors. This makes for larger and more powerful robots (with more sensitive sensors), which can be both good and bad.
   
   In addition, traditional Lego stud-based building has been all but completely done away with. This means that Lego "Technic" pieces (a system of rods, pegs, axles and gears) will be what robots are made of. As a result, I felt that this system has a tendency to produce vehicular robots rather than robots that rely on stationary structures or mounts. Again, this design decision can be both positive and negative, depending on what types of bots you're thinking of creating.
   
   One last important but not necessarily good or bad design decision is an all new programming language. Though it is still an icon based drag-and-drop language (like the last installment of Mindstorms used), it was reworked from the ground up with more advanced features specifically for the NXT. Dragging icons around to make robots behave differently may be easier to understand for young users, but as an icon-based language it still seems trivial to me (although less so than did the last set's language), and it will seem especially trivial to anyone with other programming experience.
   
   Performance Evaluation: The Good
   
   * Older Lego and Lego Technic pieces are easy to incorporate into the design of robots, and a large assortment of additional sensors is available for purchase from either Lego or other manufacturers, adding large amounts of opportunity for all kinds of robots. In addition, adapters can be purchased so that sensors from the previous Mindstorms set can be used with the NXT.
   * All included pieces (electronic and mechanical) were well designed and without defects (showing that a lot of thought went into their design and manufacture).
   * Although bulkier, sensors are sturdier and more accurate, and motors are stronger and can sense rotation to the degree. In addition, motors can rotate an axle that goes all the way through or parts that attach to other peg holes on the motor.
   * The NXT has Bluetooth for connecting wirelessly to home computers.
   * Parallel programming (telling two or more strings of code to run at the same time) is made possible for the first time, and is easy to accomplish with the built in language.
   * Third party programming languages like C and Java are available for the NXT, and a new data logging feature offers something advanced users will enjoy.
   * An available (but not included) rechargeable battery eliminates the need for 6 AA's every time the NXT runs out of power, and the ability to turn off "sleep mode" has been added so that programs can run for a long time if you want them to.
   
   Performance Evaluation: The Bad
   
   * The programming language included is useful for learning but not useful for very detailed projects. A large part of this problem could have been avoided if Lego had added some more advanced "programming blocks."
   * Advertised flash memory is incredibly limited for a device of this size. Even a few megabytes (which is tiny by today's standards) would be enough, but the device offers less than 100 kilobytes for program, sound, and data log storage. To compensate for the lack of space, the software automatically compresses programs, making even very large programs fit, although storing multiple programs is still a problem.
   * The set is packaged like traditional Lego sets, meaning storage and sorting of various pieces is a problem (with this type of set, you'll constantly be disassembling and reassembling different robots, and it's necessary to have a place to put the pieces between these times.)
   * The models that the set comes with instructions to build are clunky, slow, and somewhat poorly designed (unusual for Lego). The flashy appearance of these models adds to the feeling that Lego is really trying to attract kids to this product and neglecting advanced users, even though the system as a whole has such advanced capabilities.
   
   Conclusion
   
   I recommend the Lego Mindstorms NXT set with reservations. The functionality of the product is much more than what you might expect from a toy manufacturer, but as a "toy" this product can be a bit child-like. Advanced users will have to find ways around its issues (such as using other programming languages), but for the most part everything you need to make a robot is right in the box.



3. Le regalé a mi sobrino de 9 años este juguete y en muy poco tiempo ya lo había aprendido a programar. Es magnífico como algo que los adultos tuvimos que estudiar para aprender, ellos lo aprenden mejor y más fácilmente solo jugando. Además es un juguete muy bonito y el software lo es mucho más.



4. It is so easy to assemble, and it is very intuitive handlig.
   I highly recommend it. My six years old son did it with very little help from me.
   I am very pleased with the way how the product is made and how organized the instructions and software are.



5. Great toy that engages my 10 year old son both mentally and physically. He likes building, programming and showing what his latest create can do. The projects can be as basic or complicated as he wants to make them. He is looking forward to attending a robot camp to see some more examples of what others have built.

3 comments about LEGO Star Wars Imperial Dropship.

1. I would have to say that this product was one of the easy lego creations that I have put together. Not to mention that Lego spared no expense on making the mini-figures real life like and almost exact duplicates of the movie figures. Of course I would not recommend this toy to 3 years and younger. Older kids might like it and collectors I think would enjoy it as well.



2. I was not a Lego Star Wars Fan until I found a display in Toy'rus. They have a display full of the clones (I would say, 100+) in a palace. I was amazed with the visual effect on this display and I fall in love with the Lego Star Wars figures at the moment.
   
   This box set comes with 4 of the clones figure. If you only buy a box or two, you may find it interesting to play with. I personally bought over 10 box now and I have about 40 of the clones now. It's a great display for any Star Wars Fan, more over, I feel very satisfy with the visual effect it provided when I group them together with their ships.



3. While I'm a very big Lego Star Wars fan, I'm usually only interested in the bigger, more grandiose sets. One random day I thought I'd give this set a try, and I'm glad I did.
   
   You can curl your fingers over the finished dropship; It has a very nice compact and durable feel to it. I finished it in about 10 minutes (not counting the time it took to separate the pieces and organize them for easier access, which I always do). A lever in the back allows a loading platform to quickly and smoothly drop troops wherever they're needed. The only thing is that the Empire's symbols on the ship come as stickers, which I hate on Legos. I wish they'd print them on the actual bricks, but it's not a big deal if you're only going to display the set; Oily childrens' hands would quickly cause the stickers to peel off.
   
   It comes with three regular Storm Troopers and one Shadow Trooper to pilot the dropship, so for ten dollars this is a great set to help you in quickly building up your Imperial army. I might buy a few more to add the Storm Troopers to my collection and build something else out of the dropship pieces!
   
   Overall, I would definitely recommend this set, perhaps even several for the devoted fan!