Lego Marvel Avengers (Endgame) 76125; Iron Man Hall of Armor: You know you're rich when this is your wardrobe

Ever since Iron Man 1, and especially Iron Man 3, there has been one set Marvel fans and MCU fans have been wanting for a very long time. The Hall of Armours, a place where Tony Stark stores all of his suits, creates new ones and deploys them as needed. It's an iconic location that people have been wanting to see in Lego form for a long time, especially thanks to all the Iron Man variants there has been over the years. Now that it's been a few weeks since the movie came out, I don't feel bad by saying that this wasn't in Endgame, however, it does fill a role that I hope Lego continue with going forward, but more on that later.

Lego Marvel Avengers (Endgame) 76124; War Machine Buster: I see that hatred against knees is still a thing.

Thanks to the combined interest in Bionicle and Exo-Force (probably the only thing I've been interested in that has a connection to Gundam), I've been interested in Lego Mechs. I enjoy seeing mocs that people create online, to seeing what Lego creates officially. The only problem is that official mechs nowadays have been struggling in the movement department. While it's understandable because these are still for kids, I get frustrated when I see mechs with unmoveable limbs, stuck in a single position for all time. It was my biggest issue with the Hulkbuster from the Infinity War line, and to spoil it quickly, it looks like War Machine got it even worse.

Lego Marvel Avengers (Endgame) 76123; Captain America Outrider Attack: Oh my god what's wrong with your face?

Yes, it's an old meme, but a fitting one.

Where would MAYvel be, without reviewing Marvel Cinematic Universe Lego sets? Or rather, where would MAYvel be without reviewing Lego Marvel sets in general, because with the exception of that Spider-Man wave which I don't plan to get even though I want those minifigs, the Lego Marvel Superheroes line is now just Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not complaining of course, especially because the large gaps including the Fantastic 4, a lot of the Mutants and any inhuman not named Mrs Marvel, are probably going to be filled in eventually due to how self-sustaining this thing has become. It'll honestly be interesting to see what happens now that Avengers Endgame has come out, to see if it is as self-sustaining now that the events that happened in it did happen. I won't be spoiling anything about Endgame here, including how accurate the sets are in the movie, all that I will say is that there are sets that never appear in the movie. Shall we begin?

Lego 8978; Skrall

LEGO Overwatch 75970; Tracer vs. Widowmaker: A better accidental scheule meet up, though could be better.

A smarter person than myself would have probably done a review of the one Captain Marvel set that came out, especially as the movie was released to tie into International Woman's Day. Blunder on my part, but not the biggest one I've made when it comes to content tied to International Woman's Day. Thankfully, I have a reasonable substitute. Tracer vs Widowmaker, two of the most recognizable Overwatch characters (in terms of one hero and one villain), so it's only fitting that Lego would put the two of them together in at least one set.

I'll say right up front though, while I enjoy the characters of Overwatch, I have not played the game. The main reason for this is the monetization practice implemented by the game, being a reasonably full price game, with Lootbox mechanics, a monetization practice that came from mobile "Free to Play" games, as a way of being able to make some money by locking rewards behind randomization systems. While I can tolerate (key word there being tolerated, because I don't support or defend it) them in Free to play games, I despise them being in games where you have to pay up front to begin playing, and with the ideal purchase of any game being potentially thousands of dollars worth of collectors editions, DLC season passes, and the Lootboxes which are almost uncapped money making, it becomes very insulting and not consumer friendly. Now while Overwatch doesn't do all of those practices, it did open the door to it. Why do I bring all this up? The reason is that I'll be using more generic names for the builds, rather than their actual names and their purpose in the game (aside from what I get off Lego.com).

News Roundup: Toy Fair News Part 5: Lego

Time to wrap up Toy Fair news. These posts are by all means not all of the reveals, there's just too many to talk about, and most of it doesn't exactly excite me. I mean, I could talk about the Overwatch collectible figures, Marvel Legends and Star Wars figures, but I don't really collect those kinds of things. Not much to talk about with Nerf's Overwatch and Fortnight guns because, at the end of the day, those can be summed up as "Yep, it's a Nerf gun". Even the Monopoly Gamer for Overwatch can be boiled down to "Yep, it's another version of Monopoly". I have got two Lego Sets waiting for reviews that are coming soon though, they should only be a few weeks away. With that said, what was revealed? (Images sourced from https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-2019-new-york-toy-fair-set-images/ )

Lego City 60191; Arctic Exploration Team: Perfect timing on my end!

Too late for Australian winter, too early for winter in the Northern Hemisphere, truly the best time to review a set themed around arctic exploration!

It might be because I've never actually been to the snow, but themes and locations based around snow, ice and the like always do intrigue me. I even tend to let Ice themed platformer levels slide just due to the theme, even if it means subjecting myself to Ice physics leading to awkward platforming challenges... Moving on, while the Lego City theme, one of the few original themes Lego does still prioritize to some degree, has a lot of sub-themes to it, a lot of it can be connected to either Firefighting, Police, or some form of rescue operations. There are some like trains that tend to remain in circulation for a long time, but rarely does the line branch out from the norm, most of it tends to be in "Lego City". However, every now and then, you get something new, such as a new sub-line themed around Arctic Exploration, and where we go to today because I rarely get interested in City themes, starting off with one of the smaller sets of the wave, the Arctic Exploration Team.

Lego Star Wars; The Clone Wars set number 7675; AT-TE: Six legs are better then four!

I, like many others, enjoyed Star Wars The Clone Wars when it was originally airing. I enjoyed the character interpretations, the story ideas, the story structure, to me, it is the best thing set in the Prequel era, the second being Revenge of the Sith. The pilot movie was honestly the first Star Wars film I saw at cinemas. Like many others, I am looking forward to the final season finally being made, even if it's for a streaming service. Do I think it's going to live up to the hype? No, mostly because we know they're sticking to the original plans for the season, and some of those episodes have already been released (albeit in a very, very unfinished state). Unlike some people, I'm not calling for Lucasarts management to be sent to the internet equivalent of the Gallows, and am not believing the "management's going to ruin Clone Wars". To take a stab at that fandom, it's hard to believe anything's "the worst thing to happen to Star Wars" now when the same thing has been said about a lot of things. Do I need to bring up the joke I made when I was reviewing the Flash animation version of Clone Wars where the "let's look at the version of Star Wars fans love to forget exists" could be said about Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 7, The Clone Wars, something I can't remember because this was when I was using linked imaged rather than uploading them so its now a dead link, the Christmas Special and Clone Wars? (Before anyone brings it up, the inclusion of Clone Wars and Episode 7 was a stab at the "Star Wars is only the original trilogy" crowd, and the review was actually done before Episode 7 came out, back in September 2015).

Back on topic, ever since 1999, Lego has been making Lego sets based on Star Wars and its films, original expanded universe, current expanded universe, shows, games, Lego made spin-offs, basically if you can name a vehicle in Star Wars that is somewhat recognizable to general audiences, there's a good chance Lego has made at least one set based on it and the more well known the vehicle is, the more versions of it Lego has made (on Brickpedia under Star Wars, there are 16 results of sets that have X-Wing in the name, just as an example). With the 20th anniversary next year, it's a safe bet Lego is going to keep this IP as long as possible and will try to renew the licence in 2022. For now though, let's look at the Prequel Walker five years in the making (the one before this one came out in 2003 for Attack of the Clones), let's look at The Clone Wars AT-TE.

San Diego Comic-Con 2018 Roundup Part 1 (maybe): Bots, Bricks, Cars, Intergalactic Wars, and a mashup of things because I'm not splitting this between the two sites

Don't worry, I plan on getting back into reviews soon. I just need to get through this dump of news first. While this will not, I repeat, WILL NOT, cover everything from San Diego Comic-Con this year (trust me, its better this way because most of the content won't be "This is a thing... moving on"), I will be looking at some large parts of it, including more Transformers news, this time on the official side of the spectrum, Lego news, the return of The Clone Wars, and Hot Wheels of all things. Shall we get started?

Lego UFO 6975; Alien Avenger: *Insert War of the Worlds joke here*

Light bricks? Giant single pieces? Magnets? Packaging and marketing that promotes breaking the sets and building what you want without it being implied?! What kind of world have we walked into? Welcome to Lego UFO, a subline of what many now call Classic Space, adding an evil alien faction to that world. This was right before Star Wars took the throne of the main Space theme, and ushered in an era where space sets were focused more on combat rather than exploration. This was a time where sets didn't need to have something actually fire, and that time where children having greater access to technology wasn't at a point where they're born with a phone in their hand, so companies could afford adding more gimmicks to their toys. It's time for us to see some of the dangers the great unknown has for us.

Lego Avengers Infinity War 76104; The Hulkbuster Smash-Up: My Kingdom for a Hulkbuster with knees... or any Lego mech with knees...

Seriously Lego, what do you have against knees? Did someone really not like that one Monty Python Sketch? The Knights weren't that bad, good tastes in shrubberies. (before anyone brings it up, yes I know the reason why, but there is nothing stopping them from making something stronger)

The final Infinity War set... and also the one I actually got first, and was originally planning on doing first. Why leave it so late? Because of the Soul Stone. Let us return the battle of Wakanda, and see how helpful this Hulkbuster is.

Lego Avengers Infinity War 76108; Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown: Not the best with security are you Doctor?

Raise your hand if you saw that Time Stone fake out coming... Just me? ... Really?

The Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown, the largest of the Infinity War Lego sets released so far (not counting that "Totally not UCS" Hulkbuster), and fittingly, where one can find the Time Stone (Eye of Agomoto not included sadly), and the most amount of minifigures. Is it worth the cost? Well...

Lego Avengers Infinity War 76012; Thor's Weapon Quest: No Peter Dinklage minifig? I am dissapointed!

EDIT: 20/5/18, 10:57: While originally, the review said that Thor was reused from Thor Ragnarok, only his face was reused, the body print is new.

One day good sir, you will have it one day...

It's hard to talk about this one without spoilers to the context it comes from so I will go into spoilers for this review. Nothing major, but this set does revolve around one of the big plot points of the movie, Thor getting Stormbreaker, and traveling to (I hope I get this right) Nadivalier with Rocket and Groot, to forge the new weapon. How well does it hold up? Allow me to show you.

LEGO Avengers Infinity War 76107; Thanos; Ultimate Battle: "BEHOLD THE POWER OF MY JEWEL ENCRUSTED GOLDEN ROCKET FIST!!!"

At least he's not using it to throw rave parties? (https://twitter.com/Blaster944/status/992756321119232000)

EDIT (13/5/18, 10:30): Turns out this isn't the Milano, but a ship called the Benatar

Set number 3 of six, and we have another version of the Milano, Star-Lord's ship from Guardians of the Galaxy. The second largest set in the line, and the set coming with the item that plays a huge role in the movie, the Infinity Gauntlet itself, Let's see how it fairs in a review setting, shall we?

LEGO Avengers Infinity War 76103; Corvus Glaive Thresher Attack: Is there meant to be a Part 2 to this or something?

Up next on our Avengers Infinity War Lego set Marathon is the Corvis Glave Thresher Attack. We move into Wakanda with this one with the chase for Infinity Stone number 2 from the movies, the Mind Stone, important enough to play a large role in all Avengers movies so far (except Civil War, depending on if you count it as an Avengers movie or a Captain America movie). How well does Shuri's Lab/ Piece of Wakanda's border hold up though?

LEGO Avengers Infinity War 76101; Outrider Dropship Attack: When a Battle Pack isn't a Battle Pack

With Infinity War now being released in cinemas, and seeing as I won't get to it until this time next year (maybe, might break that rule for this, at time of writing the movie's not out for another few days), I still want to do something more directly connected to the film, so why not review the Lego Sets made? I know I said I'd do the Hulkbuster, and I still will, I just flipped the order around. Instead, these are going to go in order the Infinity Stones were revealed in the movies, and because the first was the Space Stone, first seen as the Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger. We're doing the smallest set of the wave first. Sound good? No? Too bad.

For all of these though, as there will be a mix of "these being written before watching the movie" and the fact that these are all coming out within a few weeks of the film in cinemas, I am going to avoid movie accuracy in these reviews. At least when I did Black Panther, the movie was still out in cinemas and had been there for a long time. If there's a second wave (which I do hope there is), I will look at those in the context of the film itself. I will, however, be referencing the trailers though, as I feel like that's fair game. But for now, getting all the exposition out of the way, let's get to it.

LEGO Black Panther 76099; Rhino Face-Off by the Mine: Even with mounted laser guns, this is not a threatening Rhino

By viewer request (as voted on here at the time of writing: https://www.strawpoll.me/15336306/r), the Sanctum Sanctorum can wait, for first we must travel to Africa, and start our two months of Marvel content with their newest movie (at time of writing). With Black Panther being such a huge success, its only fitting the new king of Wakanda gets some recognition this year. To those wondering why I'm not reviewing the movie, its because I review movies when they're out on DVD. Relax, I will get to it. For now, let's look at one of the two sets Lego put out for the movie with the Rhino Face-Off by the Mine... it just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Couldn't it have been something like "Battle at the Vibranium Mine" or something?

I'm going to write these reviews with the assumption that those reading this have at least heard of LEGO, and know of words like Minifigures. Is this going to be an in-depth review, analyzing every piece including new pieces, new colours and other information more useful to die-hard LEGO fans? No, cause chances are they've already bought the set if they were interested in it. I'll be looking at this more from a general perspective. I will start with the Minifigures though. The set comes with three and only one accessory for one of them. You get a Black Panther with some energy stored in the suit (watch the movie or look up the context, time and place for that, and this isn't it). Killmonger in his Vibranium suit, though not charged at all, and Okoye, leader of the Dora Milaje, who comes with her spear. All three do have really good prints on their chest, back and heads, though if you were hoping for alternate faces, you're going to be disappointed as none of them have anywhere to hide the second face. The ears of Black Panther and Killmonger only hide the stud connection on minifigure heads, and Okoye is meant to be bald. While it is a shame that none of the figures have some of the more luxurious print works, in that all three just have black legs and none of them have any printing on the arms, I can't help but feel there are things missing from the minifigures. I do wish they'd given Killmonger his swords, but the biggest gap is a character I feel should have been included... ok one of many, this was the big battle of the movie, but we never get nameless background characters in lego unless you're a muke in a Star Wars set. W'Kabi, while not playing a huge role in the movie compared to these three, he was still a main character and one of the Rhino riders in the movie. It also would have been nice to have gotten a M'Baku, but I can cut my losses when needed. Some would complain that "charged" Black Panther should be purple and not metallic blue, but I do think that the metallic blue looks great on the black body and plays off the gold on Killmonger quite well. I'd have liked it as well, but the change is something I can appreciate too. Still though, at least overall, these three are great minifigures.

The Vibranium Mine itself, a huge crater with magnetic trains floating too and from mining machines in the movie... is represented by a minecart, two pieces of scaffolding meant to look like tracks, and a mediocre catapult meant to launch the Minecart. This does well and truly feel like an afterthought in terms of the set design. I wouldn't be surprised if the lion share of the budget for this year's Marvel sets went into Infinity War, but they still could have done a better job then a minecart. Granted, its a futuristic looking Minecart, but its still a minecart. The catapult is a small, non-detrimental, but also not useful gimmick for the set. Its meant to flip the cart over and in testing, I got mixed results, though a common one was a drastic angle change, almost 90-degree difference, but then falling back down onto its wheels and onto the track. It's nice that you get some translucent blue pieces to act as Vibranium in the cart, and I personally added some of the spare pieces and ammo to fill the cart up more, but there's only so much you can do before needing to make something completely new to represent the battle.

The main focus of the set is the Rhino itself and... it's a pretty good Rhino. Not for something like a Zoo, unless you want a Rhino with laser guns mounted on its back, but a good Rhino none the less. The legs are attached with ratchet pieces so its very easy to place onto a base plate, and the articulation is solid for something its size. The head has a ratchet in its neck along with a swivel attached to the body to allow for posing, though it is a shame that there's nowhere for a turning piece to allow it to turn its head from left to right. The ratchet does expose a gap when you move it down a click, but considering the way it was engineered, its easy to let it slide. The legs can only move forward and backward at the body as there is no movement anywhere else in the pieces. One problem though is a small build in between the pairs of legs that limit the direction they can move. The front legs cannot move back further than a click, and the back legs cannot move forward more than half a click. You're going to have to work for your charging poses if you want to make use of the rhino belly as a space for a stand. I do however like that there is a tiny tail with a swivel on it, it's cute. As long as you move the head down a click, you can easily fire (without anything getting in the way) the two mounted stud launchers. These were introduced a few years ago and have become a universal weapon of sorts as there are a lot of versions of this launcher. The way it works is that it fires small lego pieces, normally round 1x1 tiles, using friction fire. Push the lever on it down and it'll fire. As handheld guns for minifigures, these do not work more often than not as the guns themselves look huge in the hands of Minifigures. Mounted on ships and animals, they can look good, though it just depends on where it's mounted and the size of the launcher compared to what it's on. It can be the difference between an oversized machine gun that would destroy the vehicle its attached to if it was fired, if not broken off by the wind itself as it flies, to a pathetic little pea shooter. On the Rhino, the launchers look fine, well proportioned for where they are, and what they would do.

Colours are evenly distributed along both the cart and the rhino, though if I had to nitpick, I do wish they'd cast the Rhino legs in grey instead of sand brown. There's enough of it on the rhino to make it look like the greys are armor, but those are large chunks of the colour and it does stand out a little too much. While I'm personally not a fan of sticker details, on lego I'm willing to give it a slide because of all of it you have to apply yourself. A lot of the time I would just ignore the stickers, particularly on Technic sets, but for the Marvel stuff I've been applying them and, with some exceptions just due to me doing these with my fingers and not the more sensible tweezers option leading me to put them on wrong, they have been going on well and do blend in with the sets. I do appreciate that these have been stickers for single pieces rather then putting a sticker on that covers several different pieces. I'm not going to complain about a bad application of stickers here, cause that was my own fault, other toys aren't going to be so lucky when I come to them.

Is this worth the $35-$40? Not really, I'd say wait for a price drop. While kids would enjoy this, most adult collectors would be buying this more for the minifigures, so to those people, I'd say to try and get them online off of second-hand sites. A neat little distraction, but if it had the budget, could have been so much better if you compare it to the scene in the movie. For three weeks, there will be no content on this site. Those three weeks will be 100% dedicated to the main site, which you can find here: http://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/. If you are a Transformers fan, feel free to check out some of the previous posts related to the Dinobots. Up next on the main site is going to be the original Spider-Man from the early 2000's, and next time something goes live here, we hunt for infinity stones with the Infinity War Lego sets! Which one is going first? Not sure yet, you'll just have to wait and see.

New York Toy Fair 2018: Better late then never

To take a quick break from reviewing toys to news on upcoming ones that want your money and won't be out here for months, I figured I'd take a look at the news from New York Toy Fair... or at least the two toy companies and toy lines I care about and what they showed off at Toy Fair, Lego and Hasbro's Transformers lines. Relax, the Grimlocks are coming. I do have to try and give off the illusion I'm timely with these reviews (even though in many cases that's sometimes out of my control...). But for now, let's indulge in some news that isn't going to make you depressed at how bad the world is getting, or that more and more people still refuse to acknowledge the source of their problems when it comes to mass murders (you know exactly what I'm referring too, don't lie and say you don't).