Best-Lock Stargate SG-1 Death Glider

The wife and I recently headed over to Target.  She wanted to do some clothes shopping, I wanted to walk around the Lego aisle maybe see if Series 11 had showed up there yet.  And while walking through the construction set aisle I happened upon this baby.  I'd never heard of Best-Lock before.  There were also a couple other bag sets with things like fire trucks and cop cars.  I opted for the officially licensed Stargate SG-1 product.  I was very leary of this brand, mostly because this bag and it's over 100 pieces was about $5.50.   And I had reason to be leary.  Lego this is not.  You can visit the companies website here.

You won't find any reference to the Stargate sets or it's other license, Terminator, but if you google Best-Lock they'll pop up.  Best-Locks slogan is "Play alot, pay a little"  And while their sets are really cheap, that savings comes with a cost, quality.  While putting this set together I found a lot of the pieces really didn't fit too well together and that there was still plastic spill over  that needed to be trimmed off the pieces.  They also say that their blocks work with other brands, although they don't say which ones. I did try putting a few lego pieces with these and they did work, but I've also read complaints online that sometimes they don't. 

The first thing I notice is there is no color at all in the set.  All the pieces are olive except for the canopy over the cockpit. And the wings really aren't held on by very much.  But lets have a look.

Here we have the completed Death Glider.

Not a whole lot of detail.  You also get a minifigure with the set.  A Jaffa figure.  Want to know what a Jaffa is go here.

And yes these figures are a cheap as they look. 

The one problem is that you can't fit the Jaffa figure in the cockpit and close the canopy.  Which is kind of a funny oversite considering that the package clearly shows the figure in the cockpit.

Over all I doubt I'd buy another set, but if your looking for some cheap building pieces this might not be a bad choice.  Just remember you get what you pay for.

cb out.

Lego Minifigure Series 11 - Rarity guide

Well it looks like Series 11 is live already, at least in some parts of the world and country, and with that we get to see how the case breaks out.  As always some figures are "rarer" than others.  A case of minifigures consists of 60 blind packs out of those 60 blind packs some figures are considered common or 6 per case, uncommon, 4 per case, and rare 2 per case.  I use these terms only to differentiate the population within a given case.  Of course if you find an unmolested case of minifigures and are adapt at figuring out what's inside you can put together a full set pretty easily as all figures are found in a case. I don't believe there are any super rare figures this time around.

Here is the break down on the population of a case.  I got this from a couple posted case breaks I've been able to find.
Rare = 2
Uncommon = 4
Common = 6

1. Barbarian - Uncommon
2. Scarecrow - Rare
3. Bavarian Pretzel Girl - Rare
4. Evil Mech - Uncommon
5. Tiki Warrior - Rare
6. Ginger Bread Man - Uncommon
7. Christmas Elf - Uncommon
8. Yeti - Common
9. Mountain Climber - Common
10. Welder - Common
11. Female Scientist - Uncommon
12. Saxiphone Player -  Rare
13. Waitress - Rare
14. Grandma - Rare
15. Constible - Common
16. Female Robot - Uncommon

So common figures make up 40% of the box with 4 figures, uncommon figures also make up 40% of the box with 6 figures, and the rare figures make up 20% with 6 figures as well.

There you go. Happy hunting.

Update 10/10/13
Got and email from reader Helen who gave me a run down on her case she opened.
"Hi
Just seen your blog on the breakdown seems pretty accurate this is what I received.
Scientist x 4
Lady robot x 4
Evil mech x 4
Sax player x 2
Yeti x 6
Holiday elf x 4
Constable x 6
Pretzel x 2
Diner waitress x 2
Scarecrow x 2
Barbarian x 4
Welder x 6
Mountain climber x 6
Grandma x 2
Gingerbread man x 4
Island warrior x 2
Hope the info is use to you
Helen"

I do believe it matches up with what I already had up, but I'm adding it here for confirmation.

cb out

Wizard Fight!!! Lord of the Rings: The Wizard Battle 79005

I was walking through the Lego aisle at Target, which always seems to happen if I happen to be at Target.  While Target doesn't have the best prices on Legos in town they do tend to have the best inventory.  I saw this little set hanging out and instantly knew it would be part of my collection.  Even if this scene wasn't in the book, it is still one of the best scenes of the movies and how can you pass up an eye of Sauron?

There's really not a whole lot to the set, but it does have motion. The Palantiri or seeing stone with the eye of Sauron in it spins around and there is also a push rod in the back of Saruman's chair that lets you fling him off.

The nice thing about this set is you get both Saruman and Gandalf, and this Gandalf is different from the one in the Gandalf Arrives set. You can see my review of that set HERE.
Now onto the Minis!!
Both minis have two faces, but most of the faces are covered up by beards.

Here's what the faces look like uncovered for Saruman. I love the big black Christopher Lee eyebrows.

Here is the other face and you can also see the detail on the back of the body without the cape on.

Here's a better look at Gandalf's faces without his beard and hair on.

Over all it's a great set and the detail of the throne room is pretty cool.  But the seeing stone with the eye of Sauron really makes the scene.

Lego Minifigure Series 11 Checklist

Figure I'd post a copy of the Series 11 poster and a checklist of the new series due out in September. If you want some other images I'd just Google Series 11 there are bunch of much better Lego blogs and websites that already have preview images up.

Checklist
1. Barbarian
2. Scarecrow
3. Bavarian girl, this one will go great with the Bavarian guy from Series 8.
4. Evil Mech
5. Tiki Warrior
6. Gingerbread Man
7. Elf
8. Yeti (My favorite of the bunch)
9.Mountain climber
10. Welder
11. Female Scientist
12. Saxaphone player
13. Waitress
14. Grandma
15. Constable
16. Female Robot.

Lego - Star Wars - Desert Skiff - 9496

I picked this set up along with all the other bargain sets at Target just after Christmas.  Yeah I've had this one sitting around a while. This one wasn't on sale, but it's one of the only Star Wars sets I wanted, that was in my price range.  And to be honest I really only wanted the Boba Fett mini.  Don't get me wrong I'll take all four mini's it comes with and they will find a nice home in the collection, but I was watching a couple Boba minis on ebay and they were going for $12 to 15 bucks that's about half of what the set costs ($24.99). This is one of those times where it's just more economical to pick up the whole set.  Not only do you get Boba Fett, but Lando, Luke and Kithaba and of course you get 213 pieces to make one of the best scenes from Return of the Jedi.