LEGO Monster Fighters Vampyre Castle 9468

LEGO Monster Fighters Vampyre Castle 9468

Released 2012

949 pieces

7 Minifigs

Ages 9-14

Seeing as its that spooky time of year again I have today the Vampyre Castle form the Monster Fighters line. It's a rather large (and tall!) building with a lot of detail and many play features such as trap doors, a dungeon, a folding staircase,  many spooky decorations and a really cool car to boot.  The car features a net launcher for the monster fighters to try to catch a man-bat or Vampyre.

For the Minifigs. We get a skeleton, which hangs in the dungeon inside. 2 good guys who I believe are named Dr. Rodney Rathbone and Jack Mc Hammer. We get 2 Man-Bat  figures which hand upside down on the outside walls. And last but not least Lord Vampyre and his Bride. Vampyre with a 'Y' just to differentiate. Click the pictures to see them close up.

Conclusion

There is a lot of playability here and there are some nice coloured pieces especially for the car. The set as a whole would make a nice display piece, especially for All Hallows' Eve.  I love that they included the coffin for The Lord too and some of the pieces like the spider, the rat and the Vampyre head pieces glow in the dark. The are quite a few stickers in the set and it is rather difficult to move the set once its been built. So it looses a mark for that. 

Overall, a very good toy

Rating 4/5

Lego Creator 40079 Mini T1 Camper Van

Lego Creator Mini VW T1 Camper Van 40079

Released September 2013

76 pieces

Ages 6+

The Lego Mini VW Camper Van poly bag was given out free with a purchase from the Lego store or Lego shop at home during September 2013. It is a miniature version of the excellent 10220 full size model. 

You get a nice selection of pieces and one sticker. The sticker is packaged in cardboard so it doesn't get messed up in the poly bag packaging. 

These roof pieces are quite rare!

I was impressed how the model turned out with so few pieces. It looks great from all angles. Though it is only 4 studs wide it will not fit a minifigure. You could easily customise it and make it any colour you wanted by swapping out the red bricks for any colour scheme you like if you happen to have the pieces. 

The only spare pieces

Conclusion 

Despite the Mini Camper Van's micro size, it being that little bit smaller than an average Lego city vehicle.  I think it would still make a nice addition to any lego city!

Lego 40057 Fall Scene

Lego Fall Scene 40057

Released 2013

72 Pieces

3 Minifigs

Ages 6+

Well it's autumn, or fall and lego has released this new Fall Scene poly bag to add to their line of seasonal poly bags that have come before it.

With this set we get 2 brick built trees, 3 Minifigs; a man a woman and a young girl. 3 printed mushrooms, 2 fence pieces, a wheelbarrow and some tools for our Minifigs to sweep up the many leaf elements which are also included.

It's a neat little set for the price and would look well in a lego city or park. you could also add it to the yard of any lego house.

Only down point is that many of the elements included to represent leaves are green rather than yellow or red. Only a few are yellow or red.  Just a shame because the leaves on the ground wouldn't normally be green.

Minifigs included are nice, the two adults have work overalls and it is nice to get another child minifig  with the short legs, however she does not feature any printing. 

Conclusion

It's a very nice set for the price of about $8/€8 you get some nice pieces and 3 nice minifigs. 

Rating 4/5

Lego Creator 31008 Thunder Wings Review

Lego Creator Thunder wings

Released 2013

235 pieces 

Ages 7-12

Main model: Thunder wings jet

Secondary models: Car and Robot

The first and main model of this set is the Thunder Wings Jet. It's a very good looking model. The blue, orange and white look nice together. There isn't much in terms of playability other that swooshing it about and it is rather unfortunate that lego did not include any sort of landing gear or display stand for this model. But if you have some spare pieces you might be able to come up with something for that. The tail flaps move up and down, and I love the use of the wheel arches as air intakes for the engines. Also enjoyed the building technique used to make the wings angled by using hinge pieces that are locked into place. Overall it's a fun model. Nice easy build and it looks just great in my opinion.

The second model of the set is the car. A sort of classic racer.  It is minifigure scale and can fit a minifig in the divers seat! Always nice though a minifig is not included with this set. Also love the use of the wheel arch as part of the front grille. This car has the larger tyres on the back and the slimmer ones on the front. At the rear the fins or spoilers can be moved about and there is some nice engine detail to the front. All in all this is a nice looking race car and is a great use of the pieces of this set.  

Lastly this set can build a robot figure with fully poseable arms and legs (and feet!) He may be a secondary model for this set but he is by far may favourite of the 3 builds. You can move his arms, at the shoulder there is a ball and socket and a hinge at the elbow and he even has little hands with movable fingers. His legs can be moved so he can pose, sit or stand. The feet are also hinged and can be moved a little. The head is fixed and cannot be posed. At the rear there is not much detail but the 2 wing fixtures can be moved slightly. This model has a high playability factor and is also very durable. And let's face it. He's cute too!

Hug?

Conclusion

I think this is a fun set with a nice selection of pieces and colours. I liked each of the models but for me the robot was my favourite. I think he will be getting a special place on my collection shelf :-) The only disappointment was lack of a stand or landing gear for the jet.

Rating 4/5