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The shuttle barely breaks through the planet’s atmosphere and is immediately
set upon by three Cathar assassin ships. Photons fly and quickly the shuttle
drops, spiraling to its doom, but the assassins have been paid to ensure this
job is complete so they follow the smoking craft closely. In an instant the
shuttle makes an impossible upward spin from its spiral, catching two of the
craft in the spinning updraft to lose control and collide in a massive ball of
flame. The third assassin realizes the ruse almost too late but jets forward
through the flames and wreckage of his companions to close on the shuttle. But
again the shuttle does the impossible for a ship its size and tips on it’s own
nose holding itself for just the slightest moment in space, the Cathar ship
passes where the shuttle should have been and is incinerated in a blast of
energy from the shuttle thrusters. The third Cathar ship explodes…and the
shuttle safely proceeds toward its destination.
Most shuttles couldn’t do
such impossible feats with the limited thrust capabilities and wide wings of a
transport shuttle, but few pilots possess the flying prowess of Jedi Master
Saesee Tiin!
My earliest Lego collections focused on Castle and Space themes. While I’m not
a huge fan of the Lego Group’s ‘selling out’ to Star Wars and other big name
companies for set ideas and promotions, darn it if the Star Wars ships aren’t
some of the coolest space ship designs to hit shelves since the original
Blacktron and Space Police sets. The most recent Star Wars stuff is so darn
cool (and expensive!) that I’ve had to narrow down my list of ‘wants’ to the
absolute coolest sets (in my opinion, of course) and the 7931 Jedi Shuttle is
one of the sets that bubbled to the top. The $60 price tag played a big part in
my not originally buying the set, but the recent sale price at a certain toy
store chain put the model closer to $50 which I felt was worth the purchase.
The 7931 set is comprised of a single space ship model and four figures. The
model design is particularly unique in that the central body features wings that
(through a rotating band located midship) allow the wings to rotate as a single
planar structure around the body. In this way the wings can be positioned
horizontally like a standard plane, or vertically like a large fin. The
rotating center reminded me of the earliest 7180 B-wing model, but where that
structure was flimsy, this is vastly superior in maintaining a sturdy connection
to the rotating parts and at the same time allowing for a sturdy (not
flimsy/loose) rotation.
Other features of the ship include the central cockpit seating one fig, three
rear thrusters and flick missiles that can be launched by tapping either the
right or left thruster when the wings are in vertical position (I found the
tapping of the thrusters more acceptable than the standard manual flicking
action). The craft also features a small landing strut that can be flipped down
when not in flight to balance the craft in a landed position.
I found it a bit surprising that the cockpit only fit one figure. Where the set
comes with four figures and a ‘shuttle’ connotes being able to transport bodies,
it would have been great if at least two of the figures could have fit inside
the ship (and GREAT if all four could have fit--accommodations for all four
couldn’t have required more than 40-50 more pieces, could they?).
Anyway, despite my misgiving about the seating capacity of the craft, the
overall design is VERY good. Colors are kept to a minimum with basic white
being highlighted with red and some minor grey bits. The cockpit consists of a
considerable amount of laterally placed plates that really enhance the
streamline body and will provide some great alternate model inspiration for
builders. There’s even the minor detail of a technic wheel/disk and sticker
used as insignia on one of the wings (very nice touch!).
Each figure comes with their own light saber (three blue blades, one light
green) and the box touts the first appearance of Jedi Knights Shaak Ti and
Saesee Tiin. In assembling the figures, I don’t recall previously seeing the
hairpiece that was used for Obiwan (short, straight hair--keep in mind this is
my first set with this particular figure) and the two headpieces for Shaak Ti
and Saesee Tiin are definitely new: Shaak Ti’s features two horns pointing up,
with two ‘pigtails’ in front and a single tail hanging down the back, while
Saesee Tiin’s headpiece features two horns that turn down toward the front.
The collection of parts for this set is great. There are mostly plates but it’s
nice how the designer was not economical with the disbursement (where a single
plate could have been used in some spots, multiple plates are used instead). A
sticker sheet is included (mostly for wing decoration).
Despite it being less than four hundred pieces, there is a definite sense of
‘art’ about the piece. Like the 7888 Bat Tumbler, this is a model that needs to
be built (rather than just seen in pictures) to be appreciated. For the design
itself this model is worth more than just the sum of its parts (I’m talking to
ship fanatics, not figure collectors).
Bottom line is that this is a
‘must-have’ for any space collection but try you’re best to pick it up at a
discounted price (even getting it without the figures is going to be worth the
discounted price!).
!!! 4x2ReVu Stats !!!
Rating: Seven out of eight studs
Pros: Beautiful design that borders on a piece of art, four cool figures with
light sabers.
Cons: Price is atrocious. Come on TLG, let’s have a
reasonable price so more folks can own one of these without having to wait for a
sale or clearance.
Walletwise: 389 pieces for around $60.
Date:
2/22/11
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: 4x2ReVu: 7931 T-6 Jedi Shuttle
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| (...) gotta clarify that upon dismantling the model for storage i found that there is indeed seating for at least two figures and you could probably put all four in there but some elbows might end up in faces. ..joseph g (13 years ago, 10-Mar-11, to lugnet.reviews, FTX)
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