As a former firefighter myself, I have a special fondness for the Lego Fire sets that are part of the City/Town line. Every few years a handful are produced, all with varying appeal. However, this little fire truck really caught my attention.

Compared to previous entries, this particular set is one of the more accurate fire trucks in terms of design. It looks very much like a modern fire truck/engine that you would see in a modern city. My biggest complaint with the fire sets are that many of the fire apparatus produced were nothing more than some sort of truck cab and a ladder attached to the back. They simply did not resemble many of the modern fire apparatus that you would see. With this set though, it looks like a fire truck from front to back.

A big part of this is the front windshield. The completely vertical windshield is very accurate and really sets the tone for the whole design. Additionally, the side compartments and rear pump controls are great. The ladder on top works well, and it can be removed if so desired as to modify the set into a true fire engine. I feel as though this set has moved away from some of the more fantastical elements that often accompany the fire sets and has instead taken a more realistic approach, designed like a real city fire truck would be.

This Shuttle Adventure set is a great model that looks great on display. It features the Space Shuttle, the two booster rockets and the fuel tank. In addition, there is a base for it to stand on, 4 light stands and 3 mini figures with a small transport car. Inside the shuttle itself is a satellite with an arm to put in space. All of the pieces seem to be quite accurate and are unmistakable for being that of a real space shuttle vehicle.

The base though is not representative of anything used in real life, and is merely meant to display the shuttle in its standing position, ready to launch. The shuttle fits neatly on it, but it's one large base plate that is quite flimsy in the middle. As such, it must be displayed on a flat surface (recommended for Lego in general) and not moved around much.

The shuttle vehicle itself has 3 wheels that can retract for landing, the cargo bay as mentioned above for the satellite, and a cockpit that fits the two astronauts. However, the figures do not fit very well and have to be moved around a bit for the canopy to be securely shut. There's simply very little room inside, but at this scale it would have been hard to overcome that. The shuttle and the two booster rockets fit onto the fuel tank via technic pins. This works fine, but it leads to my biggest issue with this set; stability. Frankly, this set is very fragile and not very secure. Any amount of handling with this model can lead to pieces coming lose. Several times when trying to attach either the rockets or the shuttle something would come lose, or the fuel tank itself would start to separate. Because of this, this is a great set for display, but not play. I would not recommend this set to be played with all that much.

NOTE: A revision of this set was released in 2011 called Shuttle Expedition. It's almost identical except it has two support beams of some kind between the booster rockets and the fuel tank. These supposedly help with stability issues. This revision was done purposely due to complaints about stability, as I too have experienced. However, I do not have that model so I can not attest that design and if it helps or not. Given the choice, I suppose I would recommend that revised model as opposed to this one.

Obviously then this set is not to scale with the mini figures. The micro figures that came with the recent Saturn V are a good size. I don't know if the shuttle is really to scale with the Saturn V rocket set or not, but they seem to be pretty close, so I think displaying them next to each other would look fine.

Overall I really like this set. It looks great on display and is one of the most accurate Space Shuttle sets Lego has made. However, it's really only good for display and not for playing with. I would still recommend it, but if you're buying for a kid I might consider a different shuttle set.

The Apollo 11 Lunar Lander set is a great model that continues the trend of Lego producing great space-related sets. Released leading up to the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, this set does a great job of depicting the Lunar Lander used during the Apollo 11 moon landing. It's also a great compliment to the Saturn V Rocket set as well.

This model comes with the obvious Lunar Lander itself, two astronauts, and a moon base. The building starts with the moon base, using dark grey tiles and exposed studs to help showcase the rocky and rough surface of the moon. There's a neat crater built in as well to further showcase the surface. While I don't know how accurate this crater is to the actual landing site, I think it's a great addition that adds some detail and personality to the base. The best part of the base though is probably the slot for the American Flag to be displayed with some uncovered stud spots leading up to the flag, meant to represent footsteps. It's a small detail, but it really adds to the uniqueness of the base.

The Lunar Lander vehicle has two main parts, the main base and the module part for the astronauts. There are several stickers that get applied to the base to help represent the gold-reflective surface, but I don't find them to be that big of a deal. I know some people loath stickers entirely, but I'm much more tolerable of them. They help to showcase the reflective surface well, so I think they're beneficial and something that printed pieces may not show well.

The one disappointment I do have with this set is the mini figures. Both figures have generic, yellow toned faces. Because this set seems to depict the actual Apollo 11 mission (and is titled as such), specific figures for Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong would have been preferable. However, that probably is easier said than done due to the rights to likeness and such. It may have been a hurdle that was too hard for Lego to overcome. I also don't know if the astronauts suits are all that accurate to the time either. They appear to be the same suits that are currently used in the ongoing space line. Something a bit more accurate would have been nice.

Overall though, this Lunar Lander is a great set for any Lego fan, but especially space enthusiasts.

The London Bus is a very beautiful and well-crafted set. The red, double-decker buses are very iconic across the world, let alone the United Kingdom, so to see one joining the Creator vehicles series here is exciting.

The set contains 1,686 pieces, and in the U.S. goes for $140. I think that's a fair price considering the size, and I feel like I got my moneys worth as far as Lego sets go.

The construction itself isn't very complex, but there are some clever designs incorporated, especially with the rounded and curved parts at the front and back. They all work really well and help give this set the iconic feel. Building the seats can be pretty repetitive, as I believe you have about 14 of the same for each level, give or take a few. However, it all looks really great. The advertising panels on the sides can be switched from the Union Jack and London signs to one of "quality biscuits" for tea time. In addition, the license plates on the front and back can be switched to show a white and yellow alternative, respectively. This set is technically not minifigure scale, but you could fudge that a bit and place minifigures inside. I don't feel they would look too out of place.

Overall I highly recommend this set. It looks great when built and is very unique, adding to the Creator line while presenting something that is not another car. If you have an interest in the London Buses or the Creator line itself, you should definitely pick this up.

In general I have enjoyed all of the Lego Batman Movie sets, more so than I thought I would. When I first saw images of this Ultimate Batmobile set, my first impression was that it's just a jumbled build of various Batman style vehicles. While that's partially true, it all works very well and is one of my favorite sets from the entire lineup.

The obvious selling point is that this Ultimate Batmobile is made up of 4 smaller Batman vehicles. As seen in the movie, this includes a regular Batmobile for Batman, a Batcycle for Robin, a Batplane for Batgirl, and a Bat tank for Alfred. These are all recreated very well when compared to the movie version, and each vehicle works very well on its own. That's the real highlight of this set. Often with toys like this, where smaller parts combine to form a bigger one, the individual parts are lackuster. That's not the case here. Each vehicle could serve as a small set on its own, and all have fun features. It's really pretty remarkable how well they all fit together to form the Ultimate Batmobile.

The mini-figures themselves are great too. It comes with Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Alfred in his Batman/Butler outfit, the Wicked Witch, Polka-dot-man, and two flying monkeys. In addition, there's a buildable Batsignal with a light brick. While the bat symbol is really only visible from near, it's a cool little feature and looks neat.

Overall I highly recommend this set. Individually and combined, this is an awesome set that looks great, plays great, and compliments all of the other Lego Batman Movie sets very well.