There is no air in space. But then again, there's no sound either, but when the Buzz Droid was swept off of Anakin's wing presumably by the wind, I smacked my head in disbelief. I guess that's why they call it science fiction. But enough of movie commentary, let's get on with the review, shall we?
You can have your Jedi Starfighters, Turbo Tanks, what have you, out of all the ROTS sets, this is the best one, I kid you not. The Droid Tri-Fighter accurately captures the challenging shape of the droid/ship. I really enjoyed the building this set since it uses a bit of SNOT technique, copious amounts of click hinges, and my favorite color (sand blue). Instead of building from the ground up, you actually build it from the back to the front.
The angular frame of the droid/ship is achieved by the use of click hinges. The eventually pinch at the front and back and are mounted on LEGO tri-tip propeller elements. It has a very sturdy feel to it elevating it's swoosh factor a couple of notches.
I was not able to take a good picture of it, but the Buzz Droid fits neatly inside the dome. Just move the buzzsaw to the side, move the legs up, and tuck away. The Buzz Droid is pretty accurate for being such a small model. Seems somewhat disproportionately tall, but it still fits inside the nucleus of the droid/ship AND you get newly printed dome elements to boot.
Construction aside, it's also a GREAT parts pack. You get lots of tiles, click hinges, sand blue elements, new angled plates, and 18 of the 1x2 brick with studs on both sides, 15 in sand blue and 3 in black. With two of the new domed patterns, i can foresee plenty of Droid Tri-Fighters being cannibalized for MOC's.
Unfortunately, this set also suffers from sticker shock. I would have loved to see new printed tiles instead of applying stickers. You do get four of the 1x2 dark blue tiles with triangular patterns, but not enough if you ask me. Probably the only negative in an otherwise great set. You can leave the sticker sheet aside, and the set would still look great. You'll want to buy more than one of these sets, if not for a Droid Tri-Fighter swarm, then for the excellent parts. LEGO has a hit with this one.
Price/Parts ratio: 5/10
Parts Selection: 10/10
Minifigs: 6/10
Construction: 10/10
Design: 10/10
Swoosh Factor: 10/10
Reviewer's Tilt: 10/10
Final Score: 8.7
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