I was really looking forward to today’s polybag, 30247 ARC-170 Starfighter, because the last ARC-170 mini we reviewed was fantastic!
My excitement levels were running high right up until I opened the bag and immediately felt deflated. I feel like I was duped because what I thought was printed elements were not, in fact, printed at all.
If you look at the bag, it looks like there is a white circular line printed on the dark red blank minifig head element. I’ve studied the picture and you can’t tell me that it is a reflection or glare from a light or anything. Those suckers are printed.
Despite the expectation set by the picture on the bag, the reality is that the element has no such printing on its surface. My guess is that this element really did exist but because too cost-prohibitive to mass produce and include them in this set. What a let down.
The choice of dark red heads is kind of odd because those huge intakes are mostly white with a red rim. Even on the previous iteration, it wasn’t the best color choice for the part. And also like the previous version, the intakes sit too low below the cockpit window
After building it, I felt my excitement return. Despite my lamenting on the intakes, the rest of the ship is pretty great. The middle wings are a bit bulkier than last time and the four flaps once again uses the flag element. The laser guns at the end of the wings again use the light attachment plates instead of the clips. Still, kind of an odd choice.
The top is smoothed out with tiles instead of the exposed studs. It’s funny how the studded surface can really date the older model.
The tail gunner’s section at the back of the ship provides the perfect finger holds for swooshing. And this thing is just begging to be swooshed.
Does It Suck or Does It Rock?
This set absolutely rocks! Everything I’ve said before about the last mini ARC-170 cane be said about this version. It’s highly swooshable, the flag elements are still super strong, and it just looks so cool. I hope LEGO remakes a minifig scaled one, or better yet, a UCS version. That would be boss.
You Can Win This And Every Other Polybag I Review This Year
I’ll be raffling every polybag I review this year in one big lot, all 260 sets (with the possibility of more). Each set will be individually stored in a ziploc baggie complete with the extra pieces, instructions, and the actual polybag bag it came in. The cost of a raffle ticket is just $1 USD and you can enter as many times as you want. Send a PayPal payment to paypal@fbtb.net for $1 USD for every ticket you want to purchase. DO NOT send one payment for multiple entries i.e. do not send one $5 USD payment for five tickets; five $1 USD payments must be made insteavd. Raffle is open to everyone in the world except where raffles are illegal. Be sure to put “POLYBAG RAFFLE” in the notes section of the payment in order to be entered successfully. Winner will be drawn sometime early January 2023 and contacted at the PayPal email address the payment was sent from to arrange for delivery. For a running list of all the sets that you can win, check this Google spreadsheet.
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