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The pilot kicks his father's ship for the hundredth time. He waited all his
life for the opportunity like that of helping his friends with a raid on the
empire's deathstar and now, so close, his father's rusty Y-wing decided to
stall out on a nearby moon. The explosion of the empire's space station can be
seen even from the surface of the forest planet he now sits on. "Oh well," he
thinks, "at least we won".
A short time later his despondence is interrupted by the sound of another craft
entering the atmosphere. Tumbling and spinning, it almost looks like an
imperial TIE fighter with crumpled wings but it's like no TIE fighter he's ever
seen before. The craft plunges into a copse of trees and surprisingly does not
explode on impact.
"Maybe I can still be of service to mankind" he thinks as he grabs his blast
rifle and heads for the wreckage with dreams of capturing an imperial prisoner.
It's tough to speak lightly about this wonderful set. It's the first new Lego
set I have been truly excited about in at least three years! The connection to
a movie that inspired my childhood is obviously going to influence my opinion
but I'm even more impressed by the two individual spacecraft whose design is
executed fairly well both within the same set.
As stated, the set is composed of two spacecraft. The first is a Y-wing, named
for its design of two main thrusters attached to a main body that tapers into a
single long-neck, wedge-shaped cockpit. The pilot sits in a reclining position
(which is the complaint of some detractors), with large blasters mounted just
above the cockpit canopy. Behind the canopy is a cubby for a removable 2x2x2
utility box. Next to the utility storage area is a place for an
android/astromech to sit snugly. There is yet another compartment for storage
of small supplies (like a light saber) behind the astromech's position. The
construction of the craft is fairly solid although the dual thrusters are
slightly wobbly due to their size and the fact that they are secured to the
main fuselage with pins rather than with bricks and plates.
The second craft is of a less-conservative design with a centralized pod-like
cockpit and wide struts that stretch out to vertically positioned wings that
angle in at the top and bottom. It's a very different design with a somewhat
ominous aspect to it, and Lego reproduces well this peculiar design although
the wings attach to the main body by way of pins (as with the Y-wing) and so
they are also a bit wobbly. Still, I've had no problems to date with the wings
popping off in play unless one deliberately attempts to pull them off.
The figures include the biped astromech (white with red highlights), a rebel
pilot with an orange jump/flight suit (helmet markings are a yellow/black
checkerboard grid), and the villain Darth Vader (all in black with a cloth cape
and a full-head helmet that can be removed to see a grey, partially scarred
face beneath). One neat thing about the set is that it is currently the only
one that includes the Darth Vader figure (which makes acquiring the set that
much more special).
New unique elements include two odd-shaped, dark grey 6x6x2 slope pieces (that
function as wing connectors), two white 4x4 dome elements, a charcoal tinted
cockpit canopy and a round, portal-shaped windshield (both preprinted). Other
unique pieces include grey 3x3 plates with one rounded edge, new 1x2 hinge
bricks with inter-locking teeth (in grey and dark grey), a 2x2 sloping brick
with a new control panel print, a new dark grey brick and rod combination
element (used for aircraft blasters), blue 4x2 sloping bricks, and the use of
long grey connector rods (previously seen in red with the 6339-Shuttle Launch
Pad).
Another interesting aspect of the Star Wars sets is that the instructions
picture alternate model possibilities (including three different views of the
alternates to aid in assembling). Some of the alternate models pictured in
this set's instructions are two aircraft, a scorpion-tail vehicle and a
nifty-looking lightsaber handle. The instructions also include a couple of
pages of non-verbal comics whose stories incorporate use of the main and
alternate models (a clever idea).
What an excellent set! There is a tremendous amount of building pieces (both
bricks and plates) and they are all used well in each design. It makes an
outstanding standalone set that will stand up well over time.
!!!4x2ReVu Stats!!!
Rating: Eight out of eight studs.
Thumbs up for: Great space craft designs that are executed nicely (though the
wings on both wobble ever so slightly).
Wallet-Wise: $50.00 (approx. U.S. retail) for 407 pieces.
Date: 9/28/1999
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: 4x2ReVu: 7150 TIE Fighter and Y-wing
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| (...) I agree that this is a really good model set. I am very pleased with the Y-wing engine assemblies, its color scheme, its tapered cockpit, and the excellent detail of its pilot's face and helmet. I am a bit disappointed with its flat underside. (...) (25 years ago, 6-Oct-99, to lugnet.reviews, lugnet.starwars)
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