Minifigures: The Joker here is absolutely excellent and comes with two faces. The attention to detail in his jacket is astounding.

Build: This is the absolute strength of the set. The use of classic washing machine pieces together with the new 4x1 plate/tile (with studs on the extremities and tiled in the centre) allows the build to obtain a very pleasing near-oval appearance. I love it when new parts are seamlessly used with older ones to obtain such pleasing results.

Gripe: The yellow plates do not work well to the colour scheme of the car; another green would have been more appropriate.

Overall : 4/5. Seemed to be very popular as part of the WHS / Daily Mail promotion on 17/5/2015, with about 10 other people waiting with their newspapers to get theirs just after the store opened on Sunday!

What an excellent set.

What is the most striking, is how well Lego have used colour in this set. It is an excellent display piece, with the light green working excellently with the white, brown, sand and little hints of red.

The palm tree mechanism to open the skull is simple but very effective, and the skull is very securely attached to the main body, resulting in a pleasing play experience.

The palm tree, made of technic pieces, is a brilliant idea and I think this breaks up the monotony of previous palm trees, and has a very distinctive irregular wooden shape.

The minifigures are excellent. The lady pirate is a brilliant reincarnation of the 1989 original, with a very reminiscent shirt print and an excellent hair piece.

The crocodile, which can now be stuck onto a baseplate unlike the originals from 1994, is an interesting development. It does clash terribly with the originals, even those of the same darker green, and is almost, dare I say it, too realistic to feel truly Legoey.

Received this set today from a Lego brand store.

• There are really no downsides to this set. The build is simple but sturdy.
• The printing of the strawberry and cookie is vibrant and sharp.
• An excellent colour choice. The creamy orange plates complement the other colours very well.
• The new "swirl" - here in pink, is very satisfying on the eyes and can function as a decoration, whipped cream, ice cream etc.
• The new flower piece in green looks very realistic as salad!
• New printed torso for the minidoll, great to expand your collection.
• Finally - a great assortment of spare parts, with an extra 'pink whipped cream', cookie and strawberry.

General Impression

The first Santa - with Merlin's beard and red pirate bandana - was long overdue a makeover. This is the perfect update and facelift !

Strengths

• The new hat. The base plastic is hard, white, ABS. Therefore, the red colour is all paint. The red paint used has a very strong shine to it which is not a bad thing. The painting is quite precise - there is a clear end to the red paint at the bottom of the hat and at the bauble, which is an improvement on previous series. The white parts of the hat have a nice texture, with some indents around the base to make it represent fur.

• The beard. While this is no new beard - we've seen in with the garden gnome and the fisherman, it is more appropriate and bushier than that of the Merlin beard.

• The sack. A totally new design, it has a very round shape with nice texture and is designed to be attachable to a plate.

• The face. Top quality printing, the plastic feels good and is shiny, and I love those bushy eyebrows !

Weaknesses

• The torso printing. The pattern itself is nice but nothing out of the ordinary, and unfortunately the white paint is not very thick - it ends up having a pink tinge because it does not block out all of the red from the torso plastic.

• The feet. These are plain red feet. Some printing would have been nice, though it is not very necessary. I find that it is the feet that give away the slightly lower quality of the plastic - though it seems to be improving (it is becoming less rough, more smooth to the touch).

The figure uses the same hat and skirt block that the previous (Fantasty Era) witch uses. ((Note however, that this block is different to the Hubble Bubble witch from 1996-8, as it has a stud in the middle of it, allowing it to stick to the minifig stand.))

With regards to the hat, it is obviously a lower quality mould, as it is visibly less shiny when compared to other hats, and has a number that is absent on the previous versions.

The face is excellent. The fact that it is green distinguishes it from previous witches and makes it seem far scarier than the previous two. There are visible cracks to the skin.

The printing on the witch's top is basic and not interesting, it is clearly beaten by the fantasy era witch. However, the skirt sports a chemical vial, a book of spells with a very detailed frog on it and a visible sign of wear and tear. This makes the witch seem somewhat closer to the fairy tale image we have of her.

Ultimately, she will go well with your two other witches, and with a cauldron, I can easily see them acting out the first scene of Shakespeare's Macbeth.