The Ender Dragon is a scene from some game called Minecraft. I guess if you're reading this you most likely already know that and probably know way more about the game than me. But essentially it is a game about using different types of bricks to create stuff. Remind you of something?I wasn't familiar with Minecraft before reviewing this set, so had to do some research before starting. I'll share that research here for anyone in the same position, so if you are well versed with Minecraft you can skip to the next section!My research basically consisted of my 7 year old son telling me for many hours what it's all about :) This LEGO set is situated in The End which is a world you can only get to via a special portal. Then once you are in, you need to find another special portal to get out again. As its name would suggest, The End is the final battle in the survivor game.The Ender Dragon is the final boss who must be killed to find the exit portal. The obsidian towers have crystals at the top that are used to recharge the Dragon's health when it flies near them.
The Ender Men are just minions who spawn randomly to try and kill you.To get to The End... well I'll let my son write this bit:First kill the Endermen that spawn in your world, throw the Ender Pearl they drop when they are killed, which will make a particle beam. Dig underground towards the beam (it will firing towards the nearest End Portal). You have to cook 8 Ender Pearls in a furnace, with 1 leftover. Cook them before throwing them. Dig towards the End Portal. Activate the portal with the cooked pearls. Portal turns black with purple particles, and then you can go through into the End. The Ender Dragon spawns in the End.The box contains:5 x Numbered bags of parts (1x#1+ 2x#2 + 1x#3 + 1x#4).3 x 8x16 tan plates.1 x 16x16 tan plate.2 x black wings.Plastic wrap with instructions (1 book). No cardboard backing or sticker sheets.See the full inventory of 634 parts.The single minifig in this set is Steve. He is donned in Diamond armour which apparently is the best in the game. The second image shows Steve junior from the initial microscale Minecraft sets released in 2012.
There are also three Ender Men (the tall black spindly-alien looking things) which use the same new minifig head part.The Ender Men are holding a brick out in front of them, seemingly to protect something valuable? Anyway it makes them completely unstable and impossible to stand upright.Steve has plenty of new parts which are all very Minecrafty.The Ender Men have a new part that makes up their body, which is a bit of a strange design to me. It looks like a very specific part that won't find much use elsewhere. Especially as it will probably be pretty rare if this is the only set it appears in.The Dragon's wings are in plain black which hasn't been seen since 2006 in the 7784 Batmobile. The inverted 2x2 dome is new in black. Also, there are a lot (48 + 1 spare) of 1x1 round Dark Purple plates if you need them :)The first item to be built is the Exit Portal - this is what the Ender Dragon drops when he dies and lets you out of The End. Next up is the Ender Dragon which is easily the most interesting model in this set.
The Dragon's body contains some technic pins/axles which pivot and allow the wings to move up and down by pressing a button on the Dragon's back, which is pretty cool.The final Dragon does look pretty cool. Somehow Steve has to kill it with his tiny bow and arrow.Of course, if I ever played Minecraft I would simple do this:From here on, the build is pretty boring. Just the landscape, a platform and a few obsidian towers. The towers have a crystal at the top that regenerates the dragon's health when it flies by. One of the towers uses a light brick to simulate the regeneration beam when you press down on it.There is a short section at the end of the instructions titled "Rebuild Inspiration - Build your own creations" which gives you one example of something else you can build by reusing some of the parts. It's just another platform of sorts, nothing that really inspires if you ask me. I also don't recall seeing it anywhere in the game.My son, being a Minecraft fan, couldn't wait to get stuck into this set.
However once finished with it had no interest in trying to make something else out of it. Instead, he just took Steve and the Dragon off to fight his Emmet clone army.After having watched a playthrough of The End, it's apparent that there is very little to work with though. Everything that appears in that entire world can be found in this LEGO set - i.e hardly anything. Just lots and lots of Ender Men and obsidian towers and dark bleak landscape. I guess it's hard to make that exciting to non-players.I think you'd have to be a fan of the game to find much interest in this set. Personally, it doesn't do much for me other than putting the Dragon on display somewhere.21117 The Ender Dragon is now available at LEGO stores (UK) for £59.99.Let me know what you guys think of it, especially if you disagree with me :) Is this or any of the other new Minecraft sets appealing? Star Wars Directory, News, Info and Interviews | GalacticBinder » Star Wars: The Clone Wars Review - Season 2, Episode 5 - Landing at Point Rain
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Review - Season 2, Episode 5 - Landing at Point Rain By Chris "HothIcePlanet" Smith Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi Mundi, Ahsoka Tano, Clone Commander Cody, Clone Captain Rex and Clone Commander Jet “Believe in yourself or no one else will.”With the clone army stretched in desperate attempt to engage General Grievous’ Starfleet, Separatists planets that were once thought secure are now rising up against the Republic. On Geonosis, Separatist leader Poggle the Lesser, safe in his newly ray-shielded factories, creates thousands of terrible new weapons which march off the assembly line against the outnumbered clone army. The Jedi, resolute in the effort to restore order to the Republic, mount a massive invasion to retake Geonosis and shut down Poggle’s factories once and for all… In this episode we see Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ki-Adi Mundi lead a landing party to destroy a droid factory on Geonosis. At the start of this episode Ki-Adi Mundi and Obi-Wan Kenobi are on the bridge of a Republic Cruiser waiting for Anakin and Ahsoka to join them.
Once Anakin and Ahsoka arrive, they all ascend to the command center for a briefing on the impending mission. The four Jedi are joined by holograms of Yoda, Mace Windu, Luminara Unduli and Chancellor Palpatine, and the group discusses plans for an assault on Geonosis. Obi-Wan feels that Poggle the Lesser is holed up in a droid factory protected by ray-shields. The group plans a massive attack on Geonosis, with gunships and AT-TE’s leading the assault. Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ki-Adi are to take separate gunships and rendezvous at a certain point for a continued assault from there. Palpatine expresses his concerns with sending so many Jedi to one point, but Yoda stresses the magnitude of capturing Poggle. Once the holograms disappear, Commander Cody, Commander Jet and Captain Rex join the Jedi for the coordinates to their landing point. In the hanger bay of the Republic Cruiser, Y-Wing bombers are lifting off for the start of the assault. Obi-Wan walks with Commander Cody to their gunship and tells him about his first experience on Geonosis when he was almost eaten by creatures for the amusement of the Geonosians.
Once Obi-Wan lifts off in his gunship, an armada of gunships is revealed, some carrying AT-TE’s on their bellies. As soon as they hit the sky over Geonosis a massive battle begins. The gunships concentrate on the cannons on the ground, but the Geonosian warriors come in from behind in their small pod-like fighters and cut them to pieces one after another. Clones fly from gunships as they are torn apart. The Y-Wing bombers that led the way didn’t do much to help in the first wave of the assault. Obi-Wan is the first to leave the Republic Cruiser bay, followed shortly by Anakin’s team and then Ki-Adi’s team. Back in the battle we see one particular gunship and a clone aboard making the comment, “Good thing those bugs can’t aim.” A split second later the gunship is torn apart, and clones are hurled out to their deaths. Anakin’s team is shot down in the melee. Most of his clones survive, but they’re stuck with no support and are badly outnumbered. Meanwhile, Ki-Adi orders his pilots to land their gunship before they’re shot down also.
Commander Cody contacts Obi-Wan on the comlink as soon as they land and tells him not to land because the zone is hot. But his warning is too late as Obi-Wan’s gunship gets shot down as well. An injured Ki-Adi and Commander Jet are regrouping from the crash. Jet reports their status and is informed that only Kenobi’s forces made it to the landing point. Anakin’s forces were stranded with no tanks for support. Ki-Adi presses forward, and they head off for a ridge in the hopes of meeting up with the others. Captain Rex updates Anakin with the news from the others, and Anakin realizes they have no choice but to press forward and rush the cannon guns and hope for support. Meanwhile, Commander Cody sees what he believes is Obi-Wan’s downed gunship and sends troopers Waxer and Boil to check for survivors. The clones reach the gunship only to find Kenobi and trooper Trapper alive. Obi-Wan is badly injured, but manages to get himself back to reunite with Cody and his men. Surrounded by Geonosians, the forward group must hold out long enough for the other Jedi’s teams to join them.
The situation looks hopeless, but they keep fighting valiantly. Commander Jet and Admiral Yularen talk via comlink. Jet conveys that they need support, but Yularen can not give any at this time. They then realize that Anakin’s team is located outside a fortress which is heavily fortified with gun emplacements. Meanwhile, Ki-Adi has splits his forces – sending his tanks on a route around some mountainous terrain, while he and his troops cut through a cave. Once inside the cave they are attacked by Geonosians from the air and yet another battle begins. Back at the barricade, Anakin and Ahsoka load backpacks with detonators. The two Jedi make their way through oncoming fire and use their grappling spike-launchers to scale the canyon wall. They work their way to the top of the fortress wall fighting off battle droids in the process. At the rendezvous point, the Geonosian warriors continue to overwhelm Cody’s forces. Things are beginning to look extremely dire, and Obi-Wan appears in no condition to sustain himself through a prolonged battle.
Back on top of the fortress wall, Anakin and Ahsoka start looking for some kind of hatch to put explosives in while still fighting off the droids. Things go from bad to worse as a couple of destroyer droids appear. As Anakin and Ahsoka are locked in a fight with the destroyers, Captain Rex sneaks up from behind and manages to eliminate one of them for the Jedi. Anakin takes care of the other, and then they drop the detonators down the hatches that the destroyers appeared from. Anakin and Ahsoka decide to jump from the top of the wall because there isn’t time for anything else. They don’t tell Rex the plan and push him off using the Force. Anakin and Ahsoka use the Force to slow their fall, but Rex continues to free fall. The two Jedi use the Force to stop the terrified Rex mere inches from the ground and certain death. Tongue in cheek, Rex asks them to just tell him to jump next time. Ki-Adi’s team is almost through the cave and is using flame throwers to clean out the rest of the Geonosians.
Once through they see Anakin’s squad and now have a clean path to the landing zone. Anakin contacts Admiral Yularen and once again asks for support. By this time Yularen has arranged for a squadron of Y-Wing bomber to come to the Jedi’s aid. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan’s team is being overwhelmed. Despite his injuries, Obi-Wan manages to stand up and activate his lightsaber for what looks like a last stand. But relief comes as Yularen’s Y-Wing bombers come in on clear a path to the shield generator and the battle turns. The Jedi and Commanders gather for a quick hologram briefing for the final run on the gun emplacements and the shield generator. They split up once more. Anakin’s team goes in to knock out the gun emplacements. The tanks then shoot down the shield generators to drop the shield and allow Ki-Adi’s team to come in with more troops. The day is won, and the mission is a hard earned success. This episode is what The Clone Wars is all about – unbelievable action!
It delivers a frenetic pace that leaves the viewer feeling exhausted, which of course is the entire point. War is hell, and this episode (which is clearly the best episode of the season – and quite possibly the entire series so far) truly makes us and the characters appreciate that motto. While the episode does focus on action, Obi-Wan’s character is particularly well handled. He of course is badly injured early on in the fight, and we get to see a glimpse of just how physically tough he is and how resolute he is as a Jedi. Understanding this makes the wizened old wizard who slices off the arm of Ponda Baba in Chalmun’s Cantina seem even more bad ass! The battle scenes rival anything in the live action films and the landing assault is reminiscent of the opening aerial battle in “Revenge of the Sith” – with ships being shot down, stifling laser blasts everywhere, collisions, debris and even dead/dying clones flying from exploding ships in a dizzying assault on our senses.