I'm not a Batman fan but even to me this is an iconic car. The previous set it came in had a bonus bat cave and was a little expensive so I was happy it got a release on its own. It's a set that doubles as playset and display piece.

Minifigs

This set comes with two minifigs, and obviously that's Batman and Robin. Right?

Wrong. For some reason there's no Robin but instead we get a joker. Don't get me wrong, it's a great minifig. His suit has a nice print and his face resembles 1966 joker. I get that for the set to work as a playset Batman needs to have someone or something to shoot at, but for a display set it really needed Robin.

Batman himself looks accurate to me with his dark blue and grey suit. The cape is a nice soft cloth and comes in a cardboard box that finally has no sellotape on it. Batman has 3 Batarangs with him.

Parts

As you would expect after seeing the car, you get a lot of black plates, tiles and slopes, curved and regular. A few red pieces for the accents and only a handful of parts in contrast colours. There's a surprising 8 nexo shields in light grey. There's a sticker sheet with 10 stickers; the plaque, two for the dashboard, the bat emblem on the side and a few accents.

Build

The build starts with a display base that has a UCS-style plaque with some details of the car. When placed on top the car can rotate to be shown from different angles.

Next we start the car, which has a few Technic parts to hold the wheels, and two vehicle bases side by side for the middle section. The rear is built with a little bit of SNOT for the rocket exhaust and a nice use of the Ninjago 'armadillo' panel for the trunk. The 1x1 brackets to close the gaps you otherwise get behind the wheel arches are a nice touch.

Over to the front and there's a little more SNOT building to shape the grille, followed by a good few curved slopes to shape the area around the headlights. Stud shooters are placed here but towards the end of the instructions there's an alternative option without the shooters. A nice touch to have the few extra parts for this included.

Finally it's the windscreens, the arch in the middle and the cleverly angled tail fins to complete the car.

The completed model.

The front is not entirely accurate but at this scale it's pretty good. The back is more impressive with the big fins. I'm not sure what gadget the golden grille tile represents but it's way too big. The part for the curved windscreens is well chosen and placing them at an angle for the front works well.

Having the choice between display model or play model with stud shooter is great. I wish they'd do that on Star Wars sets.

Conclusion

This is a great looking model of an iconic car. Play functions are limited but you do have the stud shooters to aim at the jokes, and the trunk opens to store the batarangs and stud ammo. Having the display stand and the extra parts for an alternative version without the stud shooters are a great idea. Value for money is not bad. In Europe it's around 10c/part for a licensed set with two minifigs.

The only real downside of the set is the lack of Robin, but Bricklink will sort that ;-)

After the disappointment of the new Landspeeder I was afraid this set would also be mostly a copy of the previous version but I soon found out there was nothing to worry about.

Box & Instructions

There's not a whole lot to say about the box; it's got the Rogue One branding, showing the Y-wing in battle on the front and a hangar scene on the back.

Instructions are in a single book with some images of other Rogue One sets at the back.

Minifigs

There are 5 minifigs in this set and they're a strange mix.

Y-Wing Pilot^TM

The first is an unnamed pilot in a dark blue flight suit. He looks great but I can't find any source images of rebel pilots in dark blue suits so I don't know how accurate he is. The helmet vizor is printed on his head rather than being a physical vizor and this face has been used in a few sets since 2014.

Admiral Raddus^TM

This cousin of Admiral Ackbar is also dressed in dark blue and the print on his torso looks spot on.

Moroff^TM

This Yeti-like creature is a mercenary, carrying an impressive backpack. Like wookie minifigs his head and chest are one big piece and it's unique to this minifigure who sofar is unique to this set.

Rebel Astromech Droid

Just like the pilot, his droid is nameless. He is shaped like R2-D2 but is dark grey, with a transparent brown dome.

Stormtrooper^TM

The last minifig is a generic stormtrooper.

The last Y-wing set had a princess Leia minifig besides the pilot and droid, this time we get an admiral, a mercenary and a stormtrooper and I just wonder why? The set also comes with a crane for loading bombs but strangely there's no ground crew. On the back of the box you see the pilot driving the crane while Moroff and Raddus are in a gunfight with the stormtrooper.

Admiral Raddus and Moroff have little to do with the Y-wing but they make some sort of sense if you're setting up a scene at the rebel base. The stormtrooper in this set makes no sense at all and I'd rather have seen a ground crew member to operate the crane.

Parts

There is less white and more grey in this set than in 9495. There are a lot of greeble-bits like clips and bars, a number of 4x4 round bricks and half-cylinders for the engines, some Technic for the engine struts and the bomb mechanism.

The cockpit piece has the familiar shape but a new print; the roof is now a solid sand blue. To match this there are also hinge plates and a 2x4 Technic plate in sand blue. The most unexpected pieces for me were 8 ice skates...

Unfortunately there are some stickers as well. Danger stripes on the crane, the dashboard and 4 large ones to wrap around the half-cylinders for the engines.

Building

I really enjoyed building this set. The construction of the cockpit is quite different from previous incarnations and uses some interesting parts. Behind the cockpit is the section for the droid who still sits sideways because there's just no room otherwise.

The main body also has a clever construction, this time for the bomb mechanism. It's a nice play feature that's almost invisible. The way the engines are connected has also been changed a bit and is more subtle.

The engines themselves have had quite an upgrade although they still rely on large stickers. This time though there are 4 stickers, not 2, so they go around the entire engine, not just the outside. The jet part is built with 3x3 cones surrounded by ice-skates and looks great. The rings at the back of the engines are finally open rings, not discs with a black circle in the middle like last time.

The model

The ship just looks great. While at first it may appear very similar to the previous Y-wing, on closer inspection almost every detail is different. The greebling works well and the sand blue is a nice touch in the colour scheme. The engines especially look great although I would love to see the texture of the main part of the engine done in brick rather than stickers.

Play features

As a play set this is great. The ship is sturdy enough to be swooshable, it has missiles underneath and a bomb mechanism that works very well. The set comes with a crane for acting out stories at the rebel base. There are five minifigures and although they're a slightly odd selection they allow many different scenes.

Conclusion

This is a brilliant set. The only issues I have are large stickers on the engines and the selection of minifigures and they won't bother the target audience. The design is interesting, it looks great and it's got a lot of play features. And at €69.99 for 691 parts it's very good value for a Star Wars set.

The Speed Champions cars tend to be little bigger than normal Lego City cars and the ones in this set are the biggest of the lot sofar. Size isn't everything though so let's see if they're any good.

Box/Instructions

The box follows the Speed Champions template, with a Ford logo in the bottom corner. The back of the box suggests that the designers weren't sure what they were targeting here. It shows the workshop on the side of a desert road, the blue truck going off-road and then the truck and the hot-rod going head to head on a drag strip. There are also images of the real-life F-150 and model A.

No less than 3 instruction booklets are included in this set; one for the engine hoist and the hot-rod, the next for the pickup truck and the lights bar and the last one covering the trailer and workshop.

Parts

There's a good variety in the 664 parts in the set. Way too much to mention them all. Some of the highlights are the golden rollerskate, flat silver door rail plates (only in 2 other sets), 1x1 red round tiles with a black dot that are unique to this set and of course the black doors with flame print. There's the usual set of tools as well as a welding kit. No printed orange 1x1 round like in the collectable welder but a plain green one instead.

There are also 29 stickers... 16 of them are for the F-150. The rest are a few checkered flags (they could really have done with making those a printed part with all those racing sets), the usual license plates and two Ford engine heads for the hot-rod.

Minifigures

There are 4 minifigs in this set; two drivers, a mechanic and a race official.

The Raptor driver wears the same Ford-branded race-suit as the Mustang driver in 75871; white torso and hips, dark blue arms and legs and a white helmet.

The Model A driver has medium blue legs and a black helmet, both of which have appeared in many sets. His torso is unique to this set though: a red buttoned shirt and underneath you see a white t-shirt with a Ford logo.

The mechanic also has medium blue legs. His torso is dark blue with a plaid pattern and is very common. He has a welding helmet, similar to the one used in the cargo train and the collectable welder, but without the vizor print which is a shame.

The race official uses all common parts; black legs, blue jacket and a dark red cap.

All the faces have been used before in a dozen sets or more. None of the helmet-wearing figs come with an extra cap or hair-piece for when they take their helmet off which is disappointing.

The build

Building didn't take long but was good fun. The light-stack (using 8 frying pans) and the winners podium weren't the most interesting but lots of interesting detail in the other elements. The 'A-frame' plate for example is a clever part for the base of the hoist.

There's some clever engineering to give the F-150 full independent suspension and a good bit of sideways building to give it the distinctive wheel arches.

The trailer has a clever trick to fold out the stand when it's not attached to the truck but is otherwise fairly straightforward.

The hot-rod uses some interesting parts, especially at the front, like black ice-cream cones for the headlights.

The completed model

For me the hot-rod is the highlight of the set (and the main reason to buy it) and in-the-brick it doesn't disappoint. The forward stance, the yellow firewall, the red wheel nuts in the white rims... They really got the look spot on. The only problem is its size. The engine is so tall the driver can't possibly see anything and at 8 studs at the rear tires it's very wide for Lego City.

The F-150 Raptor looks impressive. It's a proper American muscle-pickup and like with the hot-rod the designer has done a good job getting that shape right. For detailing however it does rely on a lot of stickers. For a City set those stickers wouldn't have been necessary but this is part of the license of the Speed Champions theme. I'm not sure it needs the full suspension in this set; its main role is pulling the trailer with the hot-rod.

You can't get around its size though. The body is wider than a train! And at 10 studs at the wheels it's even wider than the hot-rod. And at that size you can still only fit one minifig in the cab. The hot-rod driver has to sit in his car on the trailer.

The trailer is even wider. To allow the hot-rod to sit on the trailer the bed is 8 studs wide. At the wheels the trailer is a whopping 11 studs wide.

The podium and workshop look good in their red/grey colour scheme and they're cleverly done.

All good news sofar. The set does have its issues though. First of all, these cars do not fit in Lego city. They're just too big. As mentioned it uses a lot of stickers. With all those stickers and printed parts it's disappointed that two of the flags only have a checkered sticker on one side, the welder's gas cylinder has no print, his mask has no print. He seems like a bit of an after thought. Even on the box he looks a bit lost.

Overall opinion

This is a pretty good set. It's got two great cars and a lot of extra's elements to play out various stories. When I first looked at the images I thought €50 was a bit steep for 'two cars and some extras' but look a bit closer and you'll realise how much extra there is. And 664 parts for €50 is good value, especially for a licensed set.

As mentioned, it does have some issues, especially the size and the stickers. To balance that though it's got some unique parts including a unique torso. And those doors...

I'm glad I bought this set and despite its issues I can happily recommend it: it's a good value action-packed set.

This set may have been overshadowed by the Temple of Airjitzu that was released the following year but that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a fabulous set.

Box/Instructions

The front of the box shows the building in all its glory, surrounded by the various other elements in the set. Interesting to see that part of the tree is cropped and that the top of the building partly obscures the word Spinjitzu.
Instructions come in three booklets; the first covers all the accessories and is a bit smaller, the second and third book cover the main building with the break at a seemingly random point.
The cover of the instructions shows the name of the set in a number of languages. Apparently it's called 'The battle for Ninjago City', 'Ninjago City' or 'The Temple of Ninjago City' depending on where in the world you are.

Parts

There's an enormous variety of parts in this set. Most are in the gorgeous combination of red, gold and dark green with grey and black in supporting roles.
There are many interesting parts; the golden carriage wheels, the windows with a great dragon print, 2 dark grey BURPs, 10 'A-frames' for building at 45 degree angles, tree leaf pieces in dark green and dark red, weapons in pearl silver and lots of decorative parts in pearl gold.
Apart from minifigure parts the dragon windows and dark green trap doors are unique to this set while the door frames in dark green have only been used once before, in the Winter Village Cottage.
There are 15 stickers to be applied, most of them going on flags.

Minifigures

There are 8 minifigs in the set, 4 good guys and 4 bad guys.
The Ninjas are Jay, Lloyd and Zane and there's the samurai Nya. I think this is my first Ninjago set where none of the Ninja's wear their usual headgear. All 4 wear big shoulder armour and have nicely printed torsos with Nya the only one to also have printed legs.
The Overlord had a madly detailed torso and dress. There's an extra pair of legs in the set (without printing) for when he needs to be more active.
All these minifigs are unique to this set. The overlords army consists of 2 Nindroid warriors and a Nindroid drone and these guys appear in other sets.

The build

Building is not difficult but good fun. While there may not be many new techniques (as you'd expect in a set aimed at 9 year-olds) the set is full of interesting details. There are also some interesting mechanisms for defending the building. I especially liked the catapult-like launchers on the side of the tower.
My favourite element to build was the dragon head at the front of the building. Very clever use of parts.

The completed model

The building just looks fantastic! The designer did a fabulous job! It's an imposing building that's full of decoration and detail. My favourite part has to be that dragon head but I also love the windows. The tree deserves a special mention: it's a simple build but one of the best-looking trees I've seen in official sets. The only thing that doesn't add much in terms of looks or function is the little arch (left in the background on the box).

This set has more play functions than I think I've ever seen in a single set. The overlord has his err... contraption with movable legs and a shooter. Zane has a glider with flick-missiles. The building has trap doors and various weapons. All the characters have hand-held weapons and there's even a zip-line.

Overall opinion

This is just one of the best sets I've built. It's got everything: it looks stunning, it's got great parts, lots of characters and great play functions.
My least favourite element would be the Overlord's three-legged walker but even that has got great play potential and it includes some interesting parts.
This set is now disappearing from shops but get it if you can, whether it's for yourself or for your children.

I haven't bought Ninjago for some time; the 2015 sets didn't do much for me. Ninjago bounces back in 2016 with what might be the best sets sofar. The first one I found was this Sky Shark and I picked it up straight away.

Box/Instructions

The set comes in a nicely designed box that shows the jet in action in the sky. The back of the box of course highlights some play features and also informs me that the set contains no 3 of a series of 7 collectable weapons.

Minifigures

The minifigs are brilliant. Lloyd Garmadon is a black and green Ninja. Torso and legs are both printed in green and gold and his headgear is molded in green and black.

Flintlocke is a pirate captain and possibly my favourite Ninjago enemy figure. Legs and torso are dark red, orange and dark brown with a complex print with silver buckles and the Ninja Pirate logo. He wears dark green epaulets and an aviator's cap and has an enormous moustache.

The build

Building doesn't take very long but could be challenging for young Ninjago fans. It's an interesting build though with many unusual elements. There's a bit of SNOT for the side pods and some Mixel joints for the angles in the nose. The wing angles are done with the A-plates introduced in 2014.

Parts

There's quite a variety of parts on offer here. Some plates and slopes for the basic shape also some unexpected parts such as two treasure chests, half a dozen flintlock pistols, anchors, orange fish and dark brown barrels. There a bunch of pearl-gold pieces for various weapons; ninja stars, a telescope and a chainsaw blade. To top it off there are 3 different flame pieces, all molded in a mix of transparent red and yellow.

The completed model

The shape is more dolphin than shark but Sky Dolphin doesn't quite have the same ring as Sky Shark, does it? The colour scheme is very piratey with browns and black and the metal and orange accents give it a steampunk feel. Flintlocke's appearance with the big moustache and aviator cap helps enforce that look.

It's a very clever design that uses a variety of pirate elements to build a jet fighter that looks like a fish. There's a slider in the middle that, through chain-links, opens the treasure chests that act as bomb hatches. Apart from dropping bombs the jet doesn't have any other play features.

There is however Lloyd with his James-Bond-style jetpack and some large, hard-to-describe weapons and the jet-dolphin is very swooshable.

Overall opinion

This is a very well designed, great looking set. It's got beautiful minifigs and a parts selection that would work for castle, pirate or steampunk. At 220 parts for €20 it's pretty good value too.

My only criticism would be that the jet could have done with one more moving feature and some flames coming out of the engines at the back but that won't stop me from recommending this set to anyone.