I finally broke down and picked up the Mines of Moria set this week.  My daughter and I built the first "half" today, and it has been fun. 

Gave that set to my son on his birthday - May 23.  It's amazing! 

I ran into an adult collector recently who was looking for these in Target.

Are you sure it wasn't Jayson?   

I might be selling my stuff too... but what the hell, I'm looking forward to seeing whatever you put up for sale.

There's a few things here and there that I might be interested in for customizing... do you have an Acklay you may part with? 

Thanks for the encouraging words guys.

I'm working on the dioramas/sets when I get time these days for the next chapter.  I've also finished some new customs for it too that I need to snap some pics of.

Wow. That's a very nice piece. Too bad I'm broke and missed out on this one. I think this is one of the few custom pieces I'd have considered purchasing.

They are still in stock, just a different link now.

Add to cart

I was able to see it on Saturday with my son and wife.  Overall, we all liked it.  Kind of liked the first one too (at least up until the last 20 minutes of it with the underwater battle).


The Good

- Storm Shadow's appearance was great, a nice twist there... I was actually surprised at how they did that, and liked it.

- I love how Cobra Commander dissed Destro and left him - which I think opens up possibility for Destro to return in the next one. 

- Firefly rocked.  Awesome job there.  Love how he was able to handle Roadblock in their first fight.

- The president's role was great, love 90% of his scenes, just didn't like how he fired off the nukes like that, would have been better if all the leaders had guns to their heads by his troops - would have been more tense. 

- Secret Service agents with Cobra lapel pins... fantastic.

- Most Joes killed off, like how a few have to rebuild the team.

- Almost all the action scenes were good, and not overdone.  Very little stupid technology.  Seemed more real.

- Lady Jaye is hot.



The Bad

- Blind Master... really bad storytelling in all of that.  Really missed an opportunity here.  Horrible acting and bad directing.

- Firefly dies.  Too bad - he was a badass.

- Needed better closure with the ending.  Show Cobra Commander landing on an island or something.  Anything.  Show he's not all by himself in a chopper.

- I started to actually like Duke in this one.  Hated to see him die.

- Flint was a weak character.  Needs to be more assertive and cool like the cartoon.  Not too exciting.



For what it was, this was pretty good.  I'd like to see the USS Flagg in the next one and an assault on Cobra Island, with Cobra Commander and Destro having a rogue army with a more traditional kind of Cobra Trooper.  We need ASPs, HISS Tanks and Cobra Maggots all over the place. 

Introduce guys like Rock-N-Roll, Stalker, Gung-Ho, etc.  Bring back Breaker.  Have Zartan as a survivor and introduce the Dreadnocks.  And we need Major Bludd.  Tele-Vipers too.   

Oh, and with Duke dead, bring Baroness back.  She now has nothing to live for and can go back to being a hot chick with black hair and glasses and hates the world.

I kinda hope sets like the TRU pilots expand to Rebel Troopers that way.  Non-helmeted guys need love.  Some non-helmeted Impy's would be fine too, for sure.

^ This.

TRU has had what seems like a lot of pilot sets in recent memory.  I think we need to see an expansion into more generic army builders - in the realm of ground troops. 

Rebel Forces
- Rebel Fleet Trooper (TVC, new head)
- Endor Rebel (TVC, new head)
- Mon Calamari Officer (TVC Ackbar, repaint)
- Rebel Marksman - NEW!

Imperial Forces
- Stormtrooper (Legacy Spacetrooper - Joe Johnston version)
- Death Star Trooper (TVC Imperial Navy Commander, gray paint)
- Imperial Officer (Needa sculpt, new head)
- Imperial Terror Trooper - NEW!

I loved last night's episode too - especially the scene when Merle was trying to hotwire the car - and of course the walkers were attracted to the alarm.  Loved how that all played out.  Excellent scene.

Sad to see Merle die, but it was a great way to make the audience really appreciate the character and finally show deep down he wasn't quite the assface he had been portrayed as always.  Showed he was always a rough dude and a dick, but the situation since the "end of the world" brought out an even worse version of him... but when given a chance to redeem himself some and help others, he made a selfless decision.

Good for Merle, sad for Darryl... and next week's episode looks killer.