Out of all of the The Last Jedi LEGO sets, reviewing 75177 First Order Heavy Scout Walker was near the top of the “Can’t wait to do” list. I knew nothing about it aside from what it looked like on the box, and it looked like some sort of spindly walking tank of some kind. I made the assumption that the legs moved as you rolled along, reminiscent of the bug designs from the old LEGO Galaxy Squad theme. 707708 Hive Crawler remains one of my favorite sets because of the walking action. I was hoping some of the Hive Crawler magic made its way into this set. So did 75177 First Order Heavy Scout Walker live up to my expectations?
Walking Action
Not really. Here’s that walking action:
It works, sort of. Aside from the knees moving up and down, the legs really don’t extend forward and backward.
Plus the movement wasn’t very smooth. I felt like I had to press down slightly to get the wheels to turn to get the legs to move. I think the weight of the legs against the Technic mechanics was too much for the little wheels to actuate.
Though, despite it not working very well, I do appreciate the mechanics quite a bit. I think after building the legs and before I got to working on the head, I rolled the thing back and forth for a good 15 minutes watching all the joints move.
The Cockpit
You spend the majority of your time building the legs. It’s a mindnumbing process since you repeat the same build over and over and over. The cockpit doesn’t take too much time though but I have a few beefs about it.
For one, it doesn’t rotate. I’m not entirely sure if this is true to the source material but seeing as to how it can only really move forward and backward (turning it wasn’t very easy to do), having a rotating head would have provided a bit more playability.
I’ll give kudos to the cockpit being able to seat two, but it’s so narrow and tight it’s difficult for my fat fingers to get two minifigs to sit properly, especially the front seat There is a lot of finagling involved. The only seating arrangement is putting the First Order Gunner at the front and Hux in the back mostly because of the Gunners gigantic helmet. It’s a lot easier getting them in if you disarm them and put their blasters aside.
I guess the First Order Flametrooper can run along side it on the ground or find some other means to hitch a ride. There’s more forward firepower this way though.
The outside of the cockpit module has two spring-loaded missiles, one on each side of the head. You’re given a third missile, which can be stored on the back, with space for a fourth if you have an extra one. I suppose you can stick one of the minifig’s blasters on there for storage.
The Minifigs
You get a total of 4 minifigs: General Hux, First Order Gunner, First Order Flametrooper, and a Resistance Trooper. None of the First Order minifgs come with double-sided heads, just the Resistance Trooper, which is kind of weird to me. That First Order Gunner has a sweet-looking helmet and is probably my favorite one out of bunch. I wish I could say the same about the Flametrooper’s helmet but it is as ugly as sin. And, just like the Resistance Bomber, everyone is packing heat.
The Resistance Trooper is kind of an odd addition. I guess the First Order Scout Walker needs something for target practice, but it would have been better to include another First Order minifig. The Resistance Bomber didn’t try to shoe-horn in a minifig from the opposing side, why should the Scout Walker?
Final Thoughts
Overall, I like the look of the model, and appreciate the engineering that went into the walking action. The actual walking motion, though, left a lot to be desired and needed a bit of downward pressure to get it to work consistently. The minifig selection is not bad, but not great either. You do get a General Hux with hair this time and the First Order Gunner’s helmet is pretty wicked in a nice way. For $50 bucks you get 554 pieces which seems like it hits the golden ratio, but once you realize a lot of that is from the repetitive 8-leg build with lots of Technic pins, it doesn’t seem so great anymore. Wait for a sale for sure; this one’s bound to be discounted.
Will It Fit In A Ziploc Freezer Bag?
Yes, just 1 with no tear-down either, but you’ll want to remove the spring-loaded missiles from their launchers.
Buy It
If my lukewarm review still does it for you, you can buy 75177 First Order Heavy Scout Walker from Amazon and LEGO Shop@Home.
All Of The Pictures
Win My Review Copy Of 75177 First Order Heavy Scout Walker
Update 10/19/2017: Giveaway is closed.
If you’ve read this far, you can win my review copy of 75177 First Order Heavy Scout Walker. To enter, simply send an email to giveaways@fbtb.net with the subject line of 75177 FOHSW. Standard giveaway rules apply. You have until 11:59pm PDT, Sunday October 22, 2017 to enter. Good luck!
Our review copy was NOT provided by The LEGO Group.
