[REVIEW]:Star Wars Planet's Series 3 (triple review)

[hatcher]

So I was able to score all 3 of the current planet sets for a reduced price. So I thought I'd review all three at the same time.

If you don't know what the planet sets are, they are a mini ship, and a figure, packaged inside a planet shell. Here are the descriptions from shop at home:

Discover the secrets of Kamino™ in the Jedi Starfighter™!

The ocean planet of Kamino™ is a hostile, uninviting world filled with sprawling oceans and violent storms. Travel with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to Kamino in a scene from Star Wars™: Episode II Attack of the Clones™! Speed in on his Jedi Starfighter™ mini-model and uncover the creation of the secret Republic Clone army! Set includes a hangable Kamino planet, a Jedi Starfighter mini-model, R4-P17 astromech droid and a display stand with name plaque.

• Features Kamino™ hangable planet, Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi Starfighter™ mini-model and R4-P17 astromech droid
• Display stand with plaque also included
• Hang the LEGO® Star Wars™ galaxy from your ceiling with collectible planets!
• Kamino diameter measures over 3" (8cm)
• Jedi Starfighter measures over 0.5" (2cm) high, 2" (6cm) long and 3" (10cm) wide
• Collect the other Series 2 sets: 75007 Republic Assault Ship™ & Coruscant™, 75008 TIE Bomber™ & Planet Asteroid Field, 75009 Snowspeeder™ & Hoth™, 75010 B-Wing Starfighter™ & Endor™ and 75011 Tantive IV™ & Alderaan™
http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Jedi-Starfig ... mino-75006

Launch the Republic Assault Ship™ armada from Coruscant™!

The Republic Assault Ship was the troop transporter of choice for the Republic Army. Relive scenes from Star Wars™: Episode II Attack of the Clones™, as you transport legions of clone troops, support equipment and vehicles from planet Coruscant™ to Geonosis, with the Republic Assault Ship™ mini-model! Set includes a hangable planet Coruscant, Republic Assault Ship mini-model, Clone Trooper minifigure and a display stand with name plaque.

•Includes Clone Trooper minifigure
•Features Coruscant™ hangable planet and Republic Assault Ship™ mini-model
•Display stand with plaque also included
•Hang the LEGO® Star Wars™ galaxy from your ceiling with collectible planets!
•Coruscant diameter measures over 3” (8cm)
•Republic Assault Ship measures over 1” (3cm) high, 4” (12cm) long and 2” (6cm) wide
•Collect the other Series 2 sets: 75006 Jedi Starfighter™ and Kamino™, 75008 TIE Bomber™ & Planet Asteroid Field, 75009 Snowspeeder™ & Hoth™, 75010 B-Wing Starfighter™ & Endor™ and 75011 Tantive IV™ & Alderaan™
http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Republic-Ass ... cant-75007

Attack the Rebel forces in the tough TIE Bomber™!

The devastating TIE Bomber™ featured twin hulls, one for the pilot and one for the configurable weapon launchers. Take part in the destruction of the Rebel Alliance’s secret base at the Battle of Hoth in a scene from Star Wars™: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back™, with this serious space battle machine! Set includes a hangable Asteroid Field™, TIE Bomber mini-model, TIE pilot minifigure and a display stand with name plaque.

• Includes TIE pilot minifigure
• Features hangable Asteroid Field™ and TIE Bomber™ mini-model
• Display stand with plaque also included
• Hang the LEGO® Star Wars™ galaxy from your ceiling with collectible planets!
• Asteroid Field diameter measures over 3” (8cm)
• TIE Bomber measures over 1” (3cm) high, 1” (5cm) long and 2” (7cm) wide
• Collect the other Series 2 sets: 75006 Jedi Starfighter™ and Kamino™, 75007 Republic Assault Ship™ & Coruscant™, 75009 Snowspeeder™ & Hoth™, 75010 B-Wing Starfighter™ & Endor™ and 75011 Tantive IV™ & Alderaan™
http://shop.lego.com/en-US/TIE-Bomber-A ... ield-75008
On to the reviews. We (my kids and I) build all three at the same time. Here are the pictures.

First up, the front of the boxes. All the lego is actually packed inside the planet. From left to right, we have Coruscant, The Asteroid Field, and Kamino. I take exception somewhat to including an asteroid field as a planet, but it is where the Tie Bomber was first seen, so I'll let it pass.

IMG_0501.JPG

And the back of the boxes.

IMG_0502.JPG

Inside each of the boxes. There are 2 bages (unnumbered) and a single instruction book. The planets are 2 parts. Other then the Death Star planet that came in an early series, each planet half is identical to the other one. There are no stickers in any of the sets.

IMG_0503.JPG

The instruction booklet covers.

IMG_0504.JPG

And a random page from the instruction booklets, complete with callouts for each step listing the parts needed.

IMG_0505.JPG

The parts from each set. From the left Coruscant, Asteroid Field and Kamino. Each set consists mostly of small pieces, but there are a couple of cool parts in each. If you are only interested in these sets for the parts, they aren't very cost effective.

IMG_0506.JPG

The minifigures. As mentioned, each set comes with a figure. Coruscant comes with a clone trooper, Kamino with an astromech droid R4-P17 and the Ateroid field with a Tie Bomber Pilot. All three are exclusives as far as I can tell. Here they are from the front.

IMG_0507.JPG

And from the back.

IMG_0508.JPG

The clone and pilot without helmets to show the faces.

IMG_0509.JPG

And now, onto the builds. Each set comes with a mini ship. From left to right, we have the Repulbic Assault ship, Jedi Starfighter and Tie Bomber at an early stage in the build.

IMG_0510.JPG

And further along in the construction. I was particularly impressed with the snot (studs not on top) techniques used in the jedi starfighter.

IMG_0511.JPG

And all three vehicles finished. I really like all three vehicles. They look very realistic to their movie counterparts.

IMG_0512.JPG

Here are the ships from the bottom.

IMG_0513.JPG

Each set comes with a display stand for the ship and the figure. This one is for the Tie Bomber. Again, those are not stickers on the tile, that is a printed element.

IMG_0514.JPG

And now each set complete with planet in background and extra parts up front. This is the Coruscant set.

IMG_0516.JPG

Here is Kamino with extra parts in front.

IMG_0517.JPG

And finally the Tie Bomber and Asteroid Field with extra parts.

IMG_0518.JPG

Final thoughts. While the ships are very nice, and the minifigures are top notch, the sets are way expensive. The planet shell is a neat concept, and I guess they make nice Christmas decorations, but rather one use. Buying these at full price for the parts or as army builders would be rather counter productive.

Ratings:
Minfigures: 5/5
Parts: 4/5
Play features: 2/5 (you could swoosh them, but they are not a consistent scale, and are really designed as display)
Price: 2.5/5

Total 3.5/5

[SpaceNinjaDino]

I'm after certain (original trilogy) SW mini models and that TIE Bomber is something I bought 6 of so far. I'll get at least 3-6 more when I see another sale. Some pieces of that set are expensive otherwise:
Piece / Qty Avg Price (Bricklink)
Trans-Clear Dish 2 x 2 Inverted (Radar) with Cockpit Window Pattern / $1.58
Light Bluish Gray Brick, Round 2 x 2 Truncated Cone / $1.15 x 2 = $2.30
So $3.88 for just the 3 most expensive pieces (not including shipping). The other pieces run between 5 cents to 20 cents each.
The figure itself has been selling for $9-$11 alone on Bricklink. Looks like I could in theory buy several TIE Bombers and sell off the figure to cover most of the cost.

Now that I look closer, I should buy a ton of TIE Bombers and use parts to redo my fleet of TIE Fighters. The current mini TIE Fighter is unacceptable next to the TIE Interceptor and TIE Bomber. I wish the TIE Bomber wings were a little bigger, but I have no idea how they could have pulled that off. The blue alone ruins the TIE Fighters and the lack of a printed windscreen really shames it.

Anyway, I think this scale works great for the 1-2 crew ships. **Still wishing for a MIDI scale Frigate**

[sterlingice]

I thought all of the minifigs for the planets were NON-exclusives in the past (except Lobot) but I guess not anymore. The clone trooper is in one of the battle packs this year but the other two are exclusives

[sparkart]

Extra pieces in TIE Bomber & Asteroid Field LEGO are an Easter Egg by SPARKART!, on Flickr.

Yes, this was just an April Fool's folly, but no foolin', I really like these new sets, and the planet pieces themselves, too. Coruscant can double for the Transformers Cybertron, and I think will be easier to re-use in some sci-fi build.

I prefer the printed planets over the mixed plastic colors of Yavin and Bespin. Originally, I thought Yavin and Bespin had potential to be used as more generic pieces, and I'd like them more - but it's somewhat of a challenge to use the planets for anything other than planets.

Which isn't necessarily a limiting thing. With these pieces readily recognizable as planets, it's easy to convey the gigantic size of a super-weapon or giant spaceship alien devouring a planet...

I wonder how the mini Jedi Starfighet 6966 would look with the TIE printed dish. Pretty good, I'd reckon.

[FenrisAkashi]

Man, that would have been a hell of an easter egg...