Why is it so hard to successfully make one of the most iconic ships from this franchise? Is it merely because it’s so iconic? All I know is after as many times as they’ve redesigned this I would expect them to at least make something worth settling for.
If there’s one thing I solidly love about the Clone Wars it’s the Battle Packs. And while I haven’t been following the Clone Wars TV show and I’m not entirely familiar with their current role in the Saga, the Mandalorian armor has always been a nice design, so a small well armed squad featuring them is more than welcome set.
Empire Strikes Back, and Hoth in general, has always been a somewhat neglected area of the LEGO Star Wars line until recent years. But, starting with the somewhat infamous Hoth Rebel Base back in 2007 (has it really been that long?), the Ice Planet has been getting a little more love. The new base is the 3rd in a line of successive “bases” (2009′s 7749 – Echo Base would be the other), and is the first one that actually looks like a base.
At first glance, there’s a whole lot to love about this set. There is a gaggle of minifigs, almost all of them new or modified (our stalward Snowtroopers, thankfully, are unchanged). A lot of potential play features, and of course, a Tauntaun. Now the real question is, does all of that add up to $90, the same amount as the new Podracer set?
In the latest PotC movie, there apparently was an escape from London. I wouldn’t know, because I couldn’t bring myself to go see the movie. I know, it sounds strange that the guy who’s reviewing all of the Pirates of the Caribbean sets hasn’t seen the movie (I didn’t see the third one either), but you really only need to read my review on 4183 – The Mill, to find out why. I really did love the first movie, and that spirit is something that could have been captured in the sets. LEGO Jack Sparrow? It seems like a no-brainer. Who wouldn’t want that?
For most people, Darth Maul and pretty much everything he did was the highlight of Episode I. Red tattooed face? Check. Horns? Check. Double-bladed lightsaber. A million-times checked. If he would have been used in more of the movie, and had more than a couple of lines, he would have washed away the assault on our eyes and ears that was Jar-Jar Binks, but sadly, that was not the case.
What little we did see of him, outside of the very epic Lightsaber Duel, was his ship, the Sith Infiltrator. Long ago, George Lucas figured out that putting Sith in front of anything was a sure-fire way to sell merchandise. Sith Pancake Syrup? I bet there are people reading this right now that are thinking about checking Google to see if that really exists. So here we are, with LEGO testing us to see if we’re willing to fork money because they put out another Sith Infiltrator.
Ewoks are a curious thing to Star Wars fans, and how you feel about them, in a lot of ways, is based on your age. I’m in my early 30s, so I was just a little kid when I first saw Jedi in the theaters. I only have the most vague recollection of seeing the movie in theaters, and remember it more when my dad rented them all in the mid-80s. By that time, bear fever had gripped the US, with Teddy Ruxpin, Gummy Bears, and even a cartoon, Star Wars: Ewoks (which was awful, even back then).
And now, they’re set to take over again, with Ewoks appearing in their first low-end set since 2002 (they were actually redone in Endor Bunker, but more on that later). At $25, this certainly isn’t a cheap set. Is a tree and a couple of Ewoks, along with a speederbike, worth your money?
The Geonosian Starfighter is the redesign of a somewhat less-than-iconic ship, a small set with a less than small price. At $30 USD ($35 with the Toys-R-Us tax), so at 20 cents per piece, this may be one of the most expensive Star Wars sets, part-for-part, ever made. The question that needs to be answered is: was it worth the money?
This is a little out of the ordinary as far as reviews go, and I guess the same could be said for the ship itself… What we have here is a slice of AFOL history that we’ve brought back into the spotlight. I was still in a grey-age when this first appeared so I’m quite happy to finally get my own copy in the original burnt orange color scheme.
It’s strange how a LEGO set can give away the entire purpose of a movie before you’ve seen it. Apparently, they’re all looking for the Fountain of youth. Of course, if you’ve seen the movie, you know it looks absolutely nothing like what you see in the set. The question is, is what you get worth $20?
I’ve never been a big fan of the Clone Wars style figures, so it’s hard to believe this is my favorite battle pack so far. Apart from one real gripe (and my typical hatred of the unbearably ugly clone face) this almost qualifies as “perfect”.
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