Phantom II

Yesterday was a cleaning evening - another second hand ebay set arrived which needed to be cleaned and inventoried.  As usual, it was missing some pieces - in this case 7 black 4x10 bricks (can you guess what the set is?) and as it was clearly a rebuild, some of the pieces were in pretty poor condition.  It was actually interesting to see no less than 3 moulds for the standard 2x4 brick, some of which must have been 40 years old as they're certainly not recent ones.  

Today was mostly therefore a bricklink day, buying the missing pieces.  However, I've found some time to build up a new set that has been on the shelf for some time - the 2017 Phantom (75170).  I have to say that I was confused by this set as it looks nothing like the 2014 Phantom (75048) that I built up a couple of weeks back.  And a google search suggests that the 2014 version is much more accurate to the source material!  It's unusual for Lego to release an updated set which is less realistic.

Here's the new one...

And here's the older one...

However, a bit of further googling suggests that this is actually the Phantom II, a point that Lego oddly doesn't make clear. It's a modified Stealthipede class shuttle and bears quite a resemblance to the Separatist Shuttle (8036) from way back in 2009.  Clearly, that one was auto piloted so didn't need a canopy.

Anyway, that confusion aside, it's a nice little ship.  The build took about 25 mins and was fitted in while attending to dinner. There's not that much playability - you get a rear cargo hold and the cockpit opens, plus you get the now obligatory spring shooters, though these are well concealed and have a nice mechanism.  

You also get some interesting colours - light aqua isn't common in Star Wars sets! And a bit of bright light orange (the same as the older version).

The minifigs were interesting though - as far as I'm aware, this is the only set to ever include an Admiral Thrawn figure.  I'm old enough that I remember the Star Wars dead years of the 1980s and 1990s and Timothy Zahn's books (1992, I think, starting with Heir to the Empire) were something I devoured eagerly.  It's non-canon now, I suspect (actually, I've checked and yes, they are officially non-canon) but I still hold a soft spot for them.  So I am particularly chuffed to have a Thrawn minifig, though I don't remember him being blue!  I'm going to have to re-read the books!



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