Found new Alpha Team (Arctic transforming) sets

[JediTricks]

Over the past week, I've spotted almost every Alpha Team (Arctic) set in this new sub-line at various LA-area TRUs, the only one I haven't seen yet is the 4745 Blue Eagle vs Snow Crawler. For those who don't know about this new Alpha Team sub-line, it's an arctic theme and the A.T. vehicles all transform a la the old MASK line (one of my favorite lines)... you can see all of 'em at Lugnet. The boxes have lenticular images that show the set transforming, it's a neat gimmick but a little hard to make out. Almost every A.T. vehicle uses a new Mega Bloks-style cockpit system, but it's got a good look to it and could easily be replaced by classic Lego cockpit designs without compromising anything.

I picked up the 4743 Ice Blade yesterday, it's a pretty good-sized set for $10 at just over 100 pieces, looks like a way better buy than the 4744 Tundra Tracker which is only 30 more pieces but twice as much money. I was surprised to find clear orange parts that aren't the fluorecent style and a minifig with a yellow head (I thought we went to pink). The transformation from snowmobile thing to helicopter is pretty neat and quite effective but not terribly complicated. The inclusion of a few Bionicle weapons isn't too jarring and makes for a pretty good set of (non-moving) treads and the namesake of the set, the large "ice blade" at the front -- purists should have no trouble replacing these with something else though. Like other Alpha Team sets, it's a little on the kiddie side of Lego System, but that's not always a bad thing.


Unfortunately, I find that I really don't have much desire to pick up the other sets. The only one that looked initially appealing to me was the Tundra Tracker, but it's too much money, has a pointless transformation scheme, and just doesn't really interest me at all. As much as I love morphing vehicles, the arctic theme limits things a lot and the transformations on the other sets look pretty dull. I hope Lego keeps Alpha Team vehicle morphs in the next series, but goes with better morphs and a more general theme than arctic.

[LusiferSam]

Very cool. I'll have to check them out next time I'm at Wal-Mart or Target. Alpha Team is not my favorite theme, but I like the sets that I have (I'd rather see Lego go back to doing classic Castle and Pirate or more Advercher sets, but that's a different story).
What do you mean by "Mega Bloks-style cockpit?" As I only buy Lego I'm totally unfamiliar with Mega Bloks and the types of sets they put out.
As for mini figure color, what I've read over one Lugnet is that pink/flesh is for "real" people, yellow is for other.

[JediTricks]

Oh, that skintone thing makes sense then, I guess. I don't like it though, separates them from other Lego figs.

So far, I've only seen these AT Arctic sets at TRU, so check there first. With Mega-Bloks, they have more cockpits that are mostly just prebuilt shells with a hinged shaped canopy, they're very simplistic ways of doing cockpits, cheap and lacking in imagination but a quick way to add a specific style. It's too specialized for my tastes, there's almost nothing else you can do with these.

BTW, the Knight's Kingdom sets are out now, I've seen a couple of the minifig-scale sets at TRU as well. I don't know how well these are going to do though, they seem very character-based.

[2-1B]

I'm not very educated in non-SW Legos, so does anybody know if there are any decent snow-themed sets out there that could double as Hoth ?

[LusiferSam]

Short answer is no. Lego hasn't been great with snow themes.

Long answer is your going to have to going your own. Mix and match using a lot of white bricks. I thinking maybe some of the Arctic from 2000 might work. Remaking the Polar Base (6575) in white might like Hoth like. Or elements from Ogel's Mountain Fortress (4748) would also work. If you like BURPs I now they make whites one.

[2-1B]

Thanks Sammy, I appreciate that.

Right now I'm looking on eBay under the words "Lego white bricks" and there are tons of listings for groups of white pieces . . . some with arches and other stuff, stuff that I could maybe blend together to make my own caves or landscapes.

Now if only Lego would get moving on that Tauntaun set idea, I'd be even more motivated.