The dark side of the brick

Today's deconstruction is the Battle of Endor ( 8038 ).  This was a set that was pretty hard to get hold of with all the individual bits included - with 12 minifigs and 5 ancillary elements more versions I saw had something missing. And those that didn't were typically very expensive.  I eventually lucked out by finding a super dusty version for sale.  Apart from the grim task of getting rid some someone else's dirt, I have typically found these to be a reasonable bet as it indicates a set that has been built and displayed, rather than being played with/damaged. The only risk is sun damage but I couldn't see any sign and it turned out ok in the end.   This was a 2009 set but feels like it could have been from a bit earlier, if I'm very honest: most of the set is pretty straightforward in design.  That said, it's very effective.  The main shield base has all the right detailing and some good play features (moving doors are a must but the exploding walls...

A more recent film franchise that I have also taken quite a liking to is the MCU.  In particular, I really like the two Guardians of the Galaxy films, with their great soundtracks, irreverant humour and sci-fi setting.  I've often planned to go back and purchase the Guardians Lego sets but never got around to it (too busy with Star Wars). Anyway, bonus day came at the end of March so I went on Ebay and picked up 76021 - The Milano Spaceship Rescue.  This is a relevation!  My wife has always teased me that my lego is basically grey and that this is such a shame given the range of colours out there (see my colour chart for a good indication).  The Milano has some bits of grey in it but the dominant colours are blue and bright light orange, making it much more interesting.  With the flat silver panels, you also get some sparkliness.   Clearly, this reflects the underlying ethos of the MCU vs Star Wars: the former has its origins in colourful comics ...

One of the more enduring themes of recent years in the Lego Star Wars pantheon is the microfighter range.  I have to start out with the view that these aren't my favourite sets - while some of them manage a pretty good design with a relatively limited number of bricks, most of them end up quite cartoonish.  The real problem, in my view, is that the minifig is always placed on a prominent position in a way that is totally out of scale with the rest of the model. That said, I guess cartoonish is what Lego was probably going for, so maybe they've hit their mark.  I suppose these are really aimed at younger builders who probably don't have the aesthetic sensibilities that I do. Least favourite for me are the AT-ATs (and variants) with their clumpy 3x3 dish feet.  At the other end of the spectrum, the dewback and bantha are pretty good, partly because the scale is right.   So, what do you get?  In general you get around 90-100 parts (minimum was 62 with the very...

A few weeks back, I took apart the collection of Jedi Starfighters .  As a collection, I really appreciated the different design details for each Jedi's unique decoration.  A few weeks on, I'm now onto what Lego typically refers to as the "Jedi Interceptor".  In full-on lore, the terms "starfighter" and "interceptor" seem somewhat interchangeable but these are models of the Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor .  Smaller than the "starfighter", it apparently packed more firepower and is faster.  So, I know which one I'd want in a fight! Actually, I am much less keen on the interceptor than the starfighter, as a Lego model.  Maybe it's just that all of them are pretty similar?  Over 15 years, Lego really hasn't innovated very much with the design - the same hexagonal flags as wings and - almost - the same cockpit canopy (on closer inspection, there are some very subtle changes to the print design).  And there's not the varia...

Today I've gotten to Cad Bane's speeder ( 8128 ).  This is a set from Lego Star Wars' 2nd phase (one day I'll write up my contention that there were broadly 3 phases), with a wide selection of bricks used to good effect and the "large face" minifigs from that time.   I'm not a massive fan of the set: it's somewhat simplistic and has limited play features.  That said, the underside has more detail than is usual for a set of this type and there are some unique minifigs (though not Cad Bane himself as he also comes with the 8028 Turbo Tank). Overall, 6 out of 10.

Final post of the day... lots to catch up on, it seems.  Next off the shelf is the Droid Commander set from 2019.  I eagerly purchased this straight off as the concept looked really interesting and I was keen to see how it actually worked out in practice. What you get is enough bricks to build three droids: a really nicely detailed R2-D2, a pretty good Teal gonk droid and an afterthought of an imperial mouse droid.  Plus a number of random parts to build into targets and implements.  And a single control unit that you have to swap between droids. No instructions, though: they come with the app.  Which is where I started to get a bit bogged down.  I'm generally a pretty fast builder and the app wanted me to do one piece at a time before I could move to the next.  I spent the whole time pressing the "next" button which was pretty frustrating. You can also only build the R2 unit first and have to leave the rest of the parts bagged up until you've passed e...

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, rams...

Last week was something of a write-off with work and the weekend was spent seeing my uncle for his 75th birthday, so relatively little Lego-ing was done.  My grand deconstruction did, however, encompass the two Flash Speeders.   First up was 7124 from way back in 2000.  With only 103 bricks, this is a surprisingly good set.  Lots of parts that are now pretty rare and expensive, I got mine for a pretty good price, I seem to remember.   Lego waited 15 years to release the follow-up: 75091 . With 3x the number of bricks, the detail is obviously ramped up and this is, indeed, also a nice enough set.  Neither will go down in history as my favourites but both pretty good.

On the same theme as my earlier post, this evening I took apart the Venator-class Republic Attack Cruiser ( 8039 ), mainly because it was taking up quite a bit of shelf space.  I actually quite like this set and I like it more than the similarly sized ISDs.   What's to like: It looks pretty good (not as good as Anio's version but that's UCS scale) Lots of play features (I particularly like the bomb bay) An unusually good Palpatine figure (the big eyes from this period actually work on this minifig) Some good rare bricks It's pretty robust and I like the way that the front section hinges up  

Having created shelf space with the deconstruction of the Slave Is, I've spent much of the last week sorting bricks and rejigging my storage.  I'm in fact almost at the point where I have enough shelf space to contemplate building sets in anger again - I must have 10 sets still to build as I've barely started on the 2022 releases and still have several left over from last year. To help create space, I'm going to take apart my remaining mid-sized star destroyers.  I've written about the two UCS sets here when I took those down. I thought I'd already posted about 6211 and 75055 and didn't write about them when I deconstructed them a few weeks back.  In an oversight, I didn't even taken any photos!  To be fair, while both are pretty good playsets, I don't love either.  Not really sure why but I just found them bland.  And 6211, while looking ok for its time, feels really flimsy.  So, on to today's deconstruction: the First Order Star Destroyer ( ...