"Set" Review: WII063 Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Wii)

Ugh, has it really been a year since I last published anything here? Well, I'm finally going to get around to posting another review. This review, however, is of a LEGO video game rather than a set.

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga


The Package

It's what catches your eye as the set lies on the shelf, and is the selling point.



Not a very large box, true, but it's not going to be next to any massive BIONICLE boxes - or even other Star Wars boxes - as it's a video game, and will be treated as such.



The back showcases some of the characters from the game as well as some screenshots. The rest is taken up by safety info, rating, barcode, etc.

The Instructions

Are they easy or hard to build from?

Well, the title is somewhat misleading. No assembly is required for this game, though you can build things in gameplay. This is more like a manual instead of instructions.




Bizarrely, the back of the manual is an ad for some unrelated LucasArts game, rather than something from LEGO Company. Sorry, no image.


The Pieces

The most important part of the set, and what I buy them for.

By LEGO's standards, this is a pathetic set. What other sets are $20 or $40 USD in price, but have only one piece? Of course, with "normal" sets, you usually don't get a piece that is a fully featured videogame CD for the Nintendo Wii.



There's not much on the disc: lots of logos, the gibberish explaining who they belong to, and some starships and Darth Vader's helmet in the background.


The Finished Set

This is what it's for, people. The finished product of your labors.

Unsurprisingly for a videogame, this requires no assembly, unlike objects in gameplay. If by "finished set" you mean "finished videogame", though, I can't show you that either, since I have precisely 7.2% left to complete.



I can show you other, more bizarre things, though, many of which are made possible because of the Free Play mode of play, my favorite part of the game. For instance, various odd couples...





A glitch involving one "minikit canister" too many (you can see that I've collected all ten of them by the counter at the bottom of the picture, yet there's another one at the top)...



An Imperial Guard driving a landspeeder through town...



... and Obi-Wan trailing Sith Force spots.



"Sorry, we don't serve droids at the bar..."



"That's gotta hurt!" (Seriously, why does General Grievous pull his lightsabers out of his chest?)



An R1 droid and a womp rat pose for a portrait.



An odd "game-within-a-game" which ends badly for the womp rats.



The return of the womp rats! (Guessed my favorite character in the game yet?)




Final Thoughts

All in all, is the set worth the purchase? Or should you have kept the money?

This set, in contrast to many others, is small and expensive. However, it's a fully-featured Wii game with something for everyone - even a "two-player arcade" mode.

Pros:
Fun and detailed gameplay
Multitudes of characters to play as
Currently lowered price
Many, many unlockable bonuses

Cons:
When in two-player mode, players have to stay fairly close together
Vehicles are often difficult to control
Various minor but annoying glitches (in places)
Some in-game "cheats" are downright unhelpful

There are as many cons as there are pros, but I think this is a worthwhile buy anyway. The overall fun of the gameplay and the variety of settings (and the listed pros, of course) mostly make up for most of the cons.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this unconventional review, and that it's worth a year's wait. I hope to post more often this year, as I failed spectacularly last year. Leave a comment if you can! I appreciate any feedback!

I leave you with a skeletal goodbye wave for now...

Set Review: 8942 Jetrax T6

I know what you're all thinking - "Where has the darn Chronicler been? No new posts for almost three months!"

Well, today I have my third set review for you. With this review I segue from very small sets to very large ones. I now bring to you...

8942 Jetrax T6


The Package

It's what catches your eye as the set lies on the shelf, and is the selling point.



There is no way you are going to miss this box on the shelf. It's one of the largest BIONICLE boxes in recent years, second only to such sets as Axalara T9 or Skopio XV1. It has a nice design of the Jetrax roaring out from the swamp, firing its Midak Skyblasters and such. Very eye-catching.



The back showcases Antroz Mistika and his trusty steed (well, vehicle, but you know what I mean) with various functions of the Jetrax and an advertisement for the other vehicles scattered around the edges. The sides, barely worth mentioning, merely repeat the cover image in a smaller format.



The Instructions

Are they easy or hard to build from?


Unlike other, smaller sets, this has not one, not two, but three instruction booklets.



The fronts all show the same image as on the front of the box, with the numbering in the left showing the order which they are to be used in. (Not that we have to listen to the LEGO Company!)



The back of the instructions have various advertisements for other LEGOs and a chance to win free sets.


The Pieces

The most important part of the set, and what I buy them for.

There are a great many pieces here, and certainly too many to take a picture of all of them. (Well, I could, but I'm lazy and at the time of the publishing of this I've already dismantled it.)



These are some of the pieces of interest - at the top is a pearl silver multi-resistant shield, at the bottom is a bluish gray Hahnah crab armor, at the right is a pearl silver aero slicer, and at left is a protodermic silver Krika blade.



The lone Kanohi that comes with the set is a nicely modified Kanohi Jutlin. I prefer this over any other version of the mask.


The Complete Set

This is what it's for, people. The finished product of your labors.



This is it. The Jetrax T6. Third-largest vehicle in BIONICLE history, second-most-popular. It has only one function for its size, however - its turbines can flip in and out and nothing else.

As seen from the front.



Back view.



The pilot Antroz Mistika, who happens to be a horribly awfully generic Piraka-torso-style cardboard-cutout person who has no distinguishing feature other than his mask. A shame.



The vehicle in landing mode, displaying the internal workings of its turbines...



Antroz clambers into the cockpit.



Ready for flight!



"Out of my way, Toa!"


Final Thoughts

All in all, is the set worth the purchase? Or should you have kept the money?

This set is large and expensive, but comes with many new and recolored pieces for its price. The blue in it is part of why I like it so much, and all the silver weapons are a bonus.

Pros:
Blue parts!
Recolored weapons and armor
Turbines 'n wheels
Adapted Kanohi Jutlin

Cons:
Price
Too many bulky Technic parts
Cardboard-cutout rider

Overall, I really think the pros outnumber and overpower the cons. This is one of my favorite vehicles of all the ones released (or not released). If you decide to get it, I think it would be worth it.


I hope you enjoyed the review! I'll try to get more content in this blog... if you want me to post about something in particular, leave me a comment! Thanks!

Trading Parts

Hi everyone,

I cannot upload my images to the main Homeschool Lego Club site due to a loading error, so I will post them here.  All of the below are for trade.  Email me if you have questions.

The above is a Black Antenna, Whip for cell towers and other such things.  I have one of these.

The above are Technic Rubber Band Holders.  I have four of these, varying in color from Old Dark Grey to Dark Stone.

The above are Technic Rubber Band Holders, Large.  I have just the two shown, in Dark Stone.

The above are 1x1 Round Singles.  I have one in white, one in black.

The above is a Technic Bar, 1x5.  I have only the one shown, in Yellow.

The above is a Key Holder/Rack.  The one above is the only one I can trade currently, in the color Chrome Antique Brass.

The above is a complete-assembly Castle minifigure!  I only have the one to trade.  Varied colors in the patterned chain-mail vest, head, legs and helmet.

The above is a Chrome Silver Gem, Rock/Crystal!  I only have the one.  If you want it, make an offer - this is a rare color which is sure to go fast.

The above is a Minifig Leg, Skeleton.  I have the one shown in the color White.


The above is a Minifig Shield, Skeleton with a Dark Red and Pearl Silver pattern.  I have one of these.  The handle is Dark Stone.

Please email me or comment if you want to make an offer for any of these!  If you don't have a Blogger account, comment as Anonymous.

My Collection

Hello everyone,

Today, since I had it here anyway, I decided to show a bit of my collection. It's not anything special, and I couldn't find all of my pieces (which is why there are gaps in some of the pictures) but this is most of it.

This is my collection of Bionicle Kanohi masks which have the stud instead of a plus-rod for attaching it to a face. Commonly known as Kanohi Olda, these are rarer than their plus-rod-bearing kin.

These are the Krana. Rubbery Bionicle brains which latch onto your face and mind-control you (in the story, not real life), these are some of the stranger collectibles. Note that the metallic-colored ones in the top row are the Krana-Kal, and the tan and green ones near the bottom are normal Krana.

These are the Kanohi Nuva. Some of the bulkiest masks produced, these never quite caught on the way the original Kanohi Olda did in terms of popularity. Note the strange recolors of the Hau Nuva and Pakari Nuva. [Their colors are supposed to be the other way around. No, I didn't paint them. They're from 8598 Kanohi Nuva and Krana Pack.]

Here are the Kraata. As rubbery and charismatic as the Krana, these are some of the few collectibles with color swirls. Note that the ones to the right center are Shadow Kraata, rare promotional collectibles found for limited times in random 2003 Rahkshi canisters.
Here are my two Kanohi Avohkii. The metallic gold one on the right is the normal edition, the one on the left is the Transparent Clear Glitter edition, one of the most unusual colors produced by LEGO.

This is my collection of the Toa Metru's masks. These were distributed widely in both the Toa Metru and Voya Nui Matoran sets of 2004 and 2006, respectively. The recolored Dark Blue Ruru on the left center is from Idris in the set Karzahni, from last year.

These are the Kanoka Disks. These were the first collectibles to have the dual function of being projectiles (not counting the fact that when you hit the Rahkshi on their little heads they throw their Kraata an inch or so). The gap on the upper left is because I couldn't find my Ko-Metru disk. The one in the center is the transparent red disk included with Toa Vakama.

The Noble Kiril on the left has an unusual blending pattern of dark red and black, and the metallic gold Great Kualsi on the right was only included with the special-edition Toa Iruini.

These are the Rhotuka Spinners. They are not so much collectible... as "shootable". Note the metallic gold spinner in the upper right - also from 8762 Toa Iruini.

These are my only Hordika heads. More head than mask, these are not always counted as collectibles. The dark green ones were only available in 8940 Karzahni.

These are my only rubber Toa Inika masks. Only able to fit on a certain type of head, these masks were not well-accepted.

These are all the masks from the Titan Bionicle sets of 2006. The one on the left is the Kanohi Rode, the one in the middle is the Kanohi Olmak, the one on the right is the Kanohi Ignika.

This is my collection of Zamor Spheres. They aren't really rare collectibles, as they have been included in sets for the last three years. Note the different normal blue one as compared to the light blue ones.

I could only find 4 of my 6 sea squid. These are generally known as the hardest Bionicle projectiles to shoot.

This is my only mask that was actually made in 2007. It is the Kanohi Zatth.

These are my only Matoran masks of 2008. They aren't rare, won't fit on the old-style heads, and have no storyline powers.

These are my Great Kanohi of 2008. Two Shelek, a Kaukau, a Kakama, a Crast.

I can't believe it, but I could only find three of my eight Shadow Leeches. Not really collectible, barely shootable, these bizarre little beasts were included with sets earlier this year.

These are my Nynrah projectiles. Only good for firing, not collecting, these were included with sets from this summer.

These bright, cheery, exploding red rockets are the Cordak missiles of 2007. Included with the Toa Mahri, they and their Cordak launchers were angrily slandered by some, but I happen to like them.

One of my older collectibles is my Throwbot/Slizer faceplate. (Some of you may recognize this as the familiar face of Tunneler.) This unusual piece can only fit on Slizer heads.

Some more pieces from the Throwbots are the discs that gave them their names. As you can see from the picture on the top disc, they had a function which allowed them to fling their discs from their arms.

To bridge the gap between Bionicles and traditional LEGO bricks, I have included this launcher. This is the old-style of launchers, with the blunt lime-green tip and the ridges on the sides.

Here are some of my LEGO treasure pieces. The golden globe with an odd little handle near the top is the Golden Egg from a Harry Potter set. The one on the right is your standard gem-rock-gold-treasure-...thing.

This is a minifigure backpack which can...

... actually open up! That way, the minifigures can put such items inside as...

... milk, cat food, shampoo, an apple, and a brush.

The heart of LEGO - the bricks. But these are different! See the large, unmarked studs? The flow marks in the center...? That's because these are the old style of bricks. These are the original Automatic Binding Bricks, the first made by LEGO Company.

And here we have some signs and symbols. From left to right: a Yield sign, an award, a Merge Right sign.

Here are the Minifigures! Perhaps LEGO's most famous invention, the minifigures were and are a radical concept. From left to right: a blue construction worker minifigure from the 1980s, and his white relative... Meca One, the hard-to-find Exo-Force robot, almost the only gold piece for the last couple of years.

And this is my collection of fake, image-edited masks!


Well, that's all I have to say for now. Look back often - I'm sure to have at least something up.

P.S. If you can read this, you should be leaving a comment! Even if you don't have a Blogger account, you can click on the "Leave Comment" thing and choose to comment as "Anonymous". I really want to know how well I'm doing!