Disappointments

After the Flash Speeders, I went for two sets that I've always thought were disappointing.  First up was 75216: Snoke's Throne Room. From 2018, this is a Last Jedi set, which I've often thought is a weak film.  The set is in keeping.

The pros: the minifigs aren't bad, there is quite a bit of incedental detail which just about saves the set, and there are a couple of pretty interesting pieces (30987 jumps out).  The cons: boring overall design, somewhat rubbish play features, lots of bricks wasted on sub structure.  

The next one is similar vintage and from the same film: Defense of Crait (75202).  Part of my aversion to this set is the absolutely ridiculous scene from the film: your enemy is holed up on a planet with no hope of getting to orbit and in the middle of a desert.  You have complete air superiority.  What do you do?  You land some walkers some miles away across the desert, giving the plucky rebels time to launch some weird, ramshackle sand speeders to come out and attempt to knock down your ground force.  What would I do if I was the First Order?  Blow the mountain up from orbit!  

Incidentally, this is why Rogue One is so good: Grand Moff Tarkin simply uses the Death Star to blow everything and every planet that gets in his way to complete smithereens.  That's totally evil but utterly logical and is what makes the film so compelling.  

Anyway, back to Defense of Crait.  The sand "ski speeder" isn't badly rendered but has somewhat limited playability.  The ground installations are a bit dull.  The whole thing is therefore overworked and overpriced.