[Review] 75085 Hailfire Droid

[duboismerci]

Hello everyone!

I was browsing the forum for some reviews of the sets I bought during the May the Fourth sale and I noticed many were missing. So I thought I would make a review to fill that gap and contribute to the LSW community.

So here is my first review : 75085 Hailfire Droid

Name: Hailfire Droid

Theme: Star Wars / Episode II

Year: 2015

Pieces: 163

Minifigures: 3

Price: USA 19.99$ (Target exclusive), ENG 19.99£, CAN 24.99$, EUR 26.99€

Ressources: Brickset

Lego store description

Call in mobile firepower with the amazing Hailfire Droid™!

Roll into battle against the clone army on Geonosis with the devastating LEGO® Star Wars™ Hailfire Droid™! As featured in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, this highly maneuverable Droid can speed across any terrain on its huge wheels to join the battle. As well as giant rotating wheels, this armored Droid features folding side pylons, an adjustable gun and 4 awesome spring-loaded shooters. Includes a Clone Trooper Lieutenant minifigure with a weapon and 2 Super Battle Droids.

• Includes a Clone Trooper Lieutenant minifigure with a weapon and 2 Super Battle Droids
  
• Features giant rotating wheels, folding side pylons, an adjustable gun and 4 spring-loaded shooters
  
• Also includes a blaster
  
• Unleash the 4 spring-loaded shooters
  
• Roll into battle and cause some havoc!
  
• Extend the pylons for attack mode
  
• Avoid the Super Battle Droids
  
• As featured in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
  
• Hailfire Droid (in attack mode) measures over 3” (8cm) high, 5” (13cm) long and 5” (15cm) wid
  

The box

The front of the box with the new 2015 art: A stormtrooper helmet tagged with a rebel alliance crest.

On the back, we can see the play features and images of the lone clone trooper fighting.

Inside the box there is 3 numbered bags, the 2 loose printed wheels and the instruction booklet.

There is only one instruction booklet with the same image as the box on the cover

The back

Spare parts

The build

The build after bag one. The middle piece of the model.

The build after bag 2. The inside part of the wheel holders

The build after bag 3. The outside part of the wheel holders. The model is now complete.

The completed model (back view)

The completed model (side view 1)

The completed model (side view 2)

The completed model (top view)

The wheels in straight mode. The model is not stable and will roll back and forth if you surface is not 100% flat.

The wheels can be folded down 90 degrees but more than this and the wheels don't touch the ground and the model doesn't roll anymore.

The minifigures

Now on to the minifigures. We get 3 of them. One clone trooper Lieutenant and 2 Super Battle Droid.

The Super Battle Droid. The same as the one release with other episode 2 sets.

The 'incomplete' back

The clone Lieutenant compared to the polybag version we got in october 2013

Note: The sets comes with only one clone trooper. The one on the left is from the polybag. The one on the right is from this set.

As you can see they are both exactly te same except the newer version as leg printing. ( I just noticed the printing on my new lieutenant's helmet is a bit off. Maybe I should call and request a new helmet.)

The back is exactly the same

Rating

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These two point are not included in final score.I will still rate them as they are important for some people. Let me explain:

Price: Too much dependent on where you live and your Lego budget. Also, Lego is kid oriented even with the big AFOL community. Most Lego sets are gift to childrens so the price will not affect the overall feeling of a kid toward is play set since they don't pay for it and generally they won't know the price.

Parts: only affect the overall score for MOCCERS who need pieces for their mocs. This should not affect the rating of people who display their model and/or play with it and don't dismantles them for parts.

Price: 5/10 – 163 pieces for 20$ is under the 10 cents per piece ratio. Still if you are interested in the clone Lieutenant, 20$ is the price you would have payed on the aftermarket for one. I feel another clone trooper should have been included at this price.

Parts: 6/10 – The printed wheels are exclusive to this set. They are the highlights in term of parts, depending if you like them or not. We also gets some pieces in 2 different shades of brown. But most pieces are small grey and black bricks that don't seem that interesting. We also get a lot of technic pieces.

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Build 6/10 – Except for the middle section, its a pretty repetitive build. It should take around 15-20 minutes to build this set. It's an easy build.

Design 6/10 – I think this all comes down to if you like the printed wheels or not. It does look somewhat like the source material but it should have bigger wheels and more rocket launchers. Also you cannot leave the spring loaded missiles in the launchers because they will damage the spring if you leave them in too long. It won't damage the spring but I don't leave my spring launcher loaded because I don't like having "loaded" shooters on display. Thus it diminishes the value of this set as a display piece.

Minifigures: 5/10 – The Clone Lieutenant is a great minifigure and the highlight of this sets. This is a good way of getting the Lieutenant for those who missed the polybag and don't want to pay the ridiculous aftermarket prices. The two droids are a bad selection for this set. We should have gotten 2 brown battle droids instead of 2 SBD. In the worst case t least 1 brown battle droid and 1 SBD. Also a fourth minifig should have been included.

Playability: 6/10 – You get 4 spring loaded missiles shooters and wheels to roll around. So this is pretty swooshable. But by itself there is not much to do because you get 2 SBD and only 1 clone trooper. This set is clearly meant to complement other Geonosis sets from the 2013 wave.

OVERALL 5.75/10 – Definitively not one of the best set of the winter wave. I would not recommend this set alone but it's decent complement to your Geonosis collection. Also even if the minifigure selection is not the best, this set is worth getting for those who missed the clone Lieutenant polybag. I am pretty sure we won't get a third chance to get a blue phase one clone trooper.

Here is a little bonus for those who got through the review

Thoughts and critiques welcomes! I tried my best for the lighting while I took the pictures. I tried pretty much all the lamps in my house and this is the best result I got. Are they too dark?

Also if there is any grammar mistake burning your eyes, please PM me and I will edit.

Thanks for reading!

PS: Could a moderator please PM me. I would like to add polls.

Edited May 14, 2015 by duboismerci

[Graham Gidman]

Fun review, makes me want to get the set!

[Trance89]

Nice review!

I think the Hailfire droid looks a bit better than the 2008 one, although that one was better as a whole set because it also included a Spider Droid for the same price. I thought the one released in 2003 was the best one, but it appears to be a Technic set. I thought it was a regular Star Wars set as well, but I could only vaguely remember the look of that one, except for the wheels.

[Lobot]

Thanks for the review duboismerci.

It looks like a nice little set, if a touch on the pricey side! I've added the poll as requested

[saibot]

thanks for the review. I did mod mine later to add one extra shooter to each side, giving it 6 darts in total to fire.

[BrickCommander]

Design 6/10 – Also you cannot leave the spring loaded missiles in the launchers because they will damage the spring if you leave them in too long.

No, they won't.

[songwm]

I feelije buying this set after reading your review. Thanks!

[duboismerci]

Fun review, makes me want to get the set!

Thanks!

Nice review!

I think the Hailfire droid looks a bit better than the 2008 one, although that one was better as a whole set because it also included a Spider Droid for the same price. I thought the one released in 2003 was the best one, but it appears to be a Technic set. I thought it was a regular Star Wars set as well, but I could only vaguely remember the look of that one, except for the wheels.

The 2003 one is 600 piece and is probably too big to fit with other Geonosis sets. The 2008 one is better according to me because as you said it as more droids. I also preferred the wheels of the 2008 models, but I think the 2015 model looks better overall.

Thanks for the review duboismerci.

It looks like a nice little set, if a touch on the pricey side! I've added the poll as requested

Thanks again for adding the polls.

Normally I get all my sets on sale. With a 10-15% sale it would be alot easier to pull the trigger on this set.

No, they won't.

I did look up spring fatigue and you are indeed right.

What I tried to say was that I don't like and don't recommend leaving something "loaded" on a shelf. But that is just me.

I edited that section in the review. Thanks

I feelije buying this set after reading your review. Thanks!

Cool, glad my review help you make up your mind on this set!

[darththeling]

Cheers, great review. The multiple angles confirm what I suspected - it's not quite as good as the version from 2008 (7670) but that one isn't so great either because the transparent dishes are kind of a pain to clean/dust. Well, I guess all transparent pieces seem to attract dust but cleaning those specific pieces are just the pits.

Good use of red spring missiles, though. And the figs are good. Will probably wait for a sale for this one.

[WhiteFang]

Thank you for taking your time to share this review, especially to fill the gap for our review. I don't really like this set very much especially when there is only one minifigure at full retail price. I am not including those droids as minifigures. The only thing which I think is a good improvement is the usage of the new missile shooters instead of using flick missiles. But there is really very little reason for me to buy this set as it is. Really appreciate the good job done on this review.

[duboismerci]

Cheers, great review. The multiple angles confirm what I suspected - it's not quite as good as the version from 2008 (7670) but that one isn't so great either because the transparent dishes are kind of a pain to clean/dust. Well, I guess all transparent pieces seem to attract dust but cleaning those specific pieces are just the pits.

Good use of red spring missiles, though. And the figs are good. Will probably wait for a sale for this one.

Thanks!

Ya on sale you should get this for the clone Lieutenant. I don't have a dust problem because I display my models in a display case so they don't get dusty.

Thank you for taking your time to share this review, especially to fill the gap for our review. I don't really like this set very much especially when there is only one minifigure at full retail price. I am not including those droids as minifigures. The only thing which I think is a good improvement is the usage of the new missile shooters instead of using flick missiles. But there is really very little reason for me to buy this set as it is. Really appreciate the good job done on this review.

Yes the spring loaded missiles are wayyyyyy better then the flick fire missiles because they actually shoot!

Thanks you for your kind words!

[bithuizev]

I feelije buying this set after reading your review.

[Cyberfounder]

The clone lieutenant looks like the printing is lighter???

Edited May 15, 2015 by Cyberfounder

[duboismerci]

The clone lieutenant looks like the printing is lighter???

It's the lighting. I checked they are both exactly the same shade of blue. It's 100% the same minifig as the polybag but with printed leg.

[Anio]

No, they won't.

I hope you are right and that TLG designed that part very carefully.

This reminds me Technic sets 8458, 8466, 8446, 8448, 8285 etc. They all have a cylinder with spring which break when compressed for a long time (several weeks). 5 or 10 weeks may seem very long, but it is not at all (for example, I have sets built for 2 years that I touch only every 6 months for dusting).

A very interesting fact by the way to attest this :

The cylinder is made out of 4 elements : http://www.bricklink....asp?P=32181c02

And you will notice that on BL, none sells this element : http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=32182 precisely because it is the one that breaks.

More generally, I advise not to let anything loaded for a long time, whatever it is : batteries in a battery box, pressure in pneumatic elements, compressed springs, etc.

[Cyberfounder]

It's the lighting. I checked they are both exactly the same shade of blue. It's 100% the same minifig as the polybag but with printed leg.

Okay, thank you for clearing that up.

[rollermonkey]

I would like to see a comparison shot of this and the previous incarnation(s), if anyone has them all.

[Flieger]

Thanks a lot! I like picture reviews and since they are about to die (it seems) I am happy about every one we get.

I am feeling a bit stupid that I wasted so much money on the polybag back then, but that is my fault alone.

However what I could blame lego for is the choice of a Hailfire droid for a set of this size. Perhaps other buildable droids would have been better...

[dr_spock]

Thanks for doing the review. I don't think I'll be getting this set.

[CHUD]

Just a heads up, this set is on sale for $16.99 this week in the US. I went ahead and picked one up based on your review! Thanks a lot and keep em coming

[duboismerci]

Thanks a lot! I like picture reviews and since they are about to die (it seems) I am happy about every one we get.

I am feeling a bit stupid that I wasted so much money on the polybag back then, but that is my fault alone.

However what I could blame lego for is the choice of a Hailfire droid for a set of this size. Perhaps other buildable droids would have been better...

I feel you. I payed 125 for the AT-TE to get the polybag. I could have bought it for 90 without the polybag one week earlier in the US.

I don't see any other droid they could have made for a 20$ sets. Maybe an octopura droid but we got one last year with the Utapau BP. Maybe crabs droid and a bunch of clone troopers.

Also I will review the senate commando troopers and geonosis trooper when I have time. The other sets I don't have them so I can't review them.

Thanks for doing the review. I don't think I'll be getting this set.

Welcome!

Just a heads up, this set is on sale for $16.99 this week in the US. I went ahead and picked one up based on your review! Thanks a lot and keep em coming

Glad you liked it! At that price it's worth picking 1-2 up. Could you specify at what store you found that deal?

Edited May 20, 2015 by duboismerci

[CHUD]

Oh yeah sorry, it's at Target. Deal should be good until Sunday

[MartinCliffe]

I bought 2 of these. I think it's a good but not great set, so this is a fair review. IMO they look much better if you add 2 extra spring-loaded shooters to each side. Doesn't require any further mods, either, so it's a simple addition.