1
Qui-Gon: Are you brain dead?
Jar Jar: I spek.
QG: The ability to speak does not make you intelligent, now get out of here.
JJ: Oh no-sah! Meesa your humble servant!
Set Title: Naboo Swamp
Set #: 7121
Theme: Star Wars
Subtheme: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace
Pieces: 81
Minifigures: 4
Year of Release: 1999
Price at Release: USD $10
Inventory? Buy it? Bricklink Peeron
Flickr Set
INSTRUCTIONS
Upon opening up the box (mine is now long gone), you first get the instructions.
On the front, notice it still says System, and has that cute LEGO Episode 1 logo. There's also some nice background art and the odd stray blaster discharge.
Back, complete with minifigures building the set and a crazy alternate model! (Boy I miss this old style...)
Random page, with nice and easy-to-follow steps, and a non-intruding background.
But wait, here's something interesting! On the steps to build the two identical STAPs, the step numbers are in an evil red Darth Maul circle. For the steps to build the swamps, though, the step numbers are in a yellow lightsaber circle. I'd never noticed this before.
PIECES
So, what does it take to build two STAPs and a swamp in 1999? For the swamp, it takes a very long blue plate (this was the last set to have a blue 6x16 plate), seaweed, green whips, and a nice amount of actual bricks. Yes, bricks! Normal bricks, I feel, is something that has really been missing in Star Wars sets these days, and makes LEGO feel less LEGO-y to me when they're not around.
To build the STAPs, you need four clear pieces as stands (a technique copied for later STAPs and other flying models), and a bunch of small brown and gray pieces. Those triangular pieces that also come on speeder bikes are nice.
MINIFIGURES and ACCESSORIES
Let's take a look at the minfigures from the front. There are two battle droids, Qui-Gon Ginn (looking good) and everybody's favorite character, Jar Jar Binks! When this set came out, Qui-Gon was also available in the more expensive 7161 Gungan Sub and 7171 Mos Espa Podrace and the cheaper 7101 Lightsaber Duel. Jar Jar was also in the Sub and Podrace set.
From the back, we see the details of Jar-Jar's head and Qui-Gon's hair (see my 7101 Lightsaber Duel Review for a pic of just the hair), and, oh my, Battle Droid Backpacks! Sure, they're just 1x2 tan bricks, but why can't LEGO put them in nowadays? (You can also see that I taped Qui-Gon's cape long ago to keep it from fraying more)
Qui-Gon had one of those face prints that LEGO must have found difficult. Comparing my three Qui-Gons (from Gungan Sub, Lightsaber Duel, and this set), each one has a slightly different beard. Odd, isn't it?
As far as accessories go, there's just Qui-Gon's green lightsaber…
…and a clam (from Belville), maybe for Jar-Jar to eat.
BUILD
So, in case you're interested, here's how LEGO built a STAP back in '99. It's undoubtedly repetitive to build two of the exact same thing, but hey, we've never gotten two again. (LEGO seemed to like two of the same thing back then, two speeder bikes, two STAPs… some designer had an obsession with blocky and brown)
And the swamp, with so many bricks, glorious bricks!
SET - STAP
Now here are the completed STAPs, yes you get two of them! I can show the side and front just taking one picture! It does resemble a STAP, so that's good, and it is about the correct size in comparison to the battle droid. The top guns are pretty lame, being just gray rods, but not truly terrible. One slight problem is that the droids are just hanging on with no foothold, that would freak the hell out of the stupid CW Bds, but these EP1 droids could probably figure it out.
Since I have 7654 Droids Battle Pack, I took a comparison of the old and new STAPs. The new one is much sleeker than the old one, but I think the old one captures the appropriate size better. That new one just seems too big to me. Also, the new one doesn't come with a back-packed battle droid! But the new one does look much better overall, so I'm conflicted as to which one is really better.
SET - SWAMP
Besides the STAPs, we've got the little swamp. It's a nice addition to the set (and lets the set's name not be STAP Attack), and it certainly boosts the playability. The parts included here are good, with plenty of seaweed and whips, as well as the bricks in green and brown (which were relatively rare colors). For what it is, the design here is also quite nice with its asymmetry and all. The clam makes a pleasant, swampy addition.
There really isn't much else to see on the swamp, and play features are at zero, but here's too more angled views anyway, just to show off the green and brown. Enjoy them (or scroll down to the bottom!).
Seeing as my picture supply has run dry, I'll wrap things up. It's a nice set with good thought out features, and for ten bucks I can't say it's lacking anything.
The rundown:
Parts: 9/10 - sure, it's 19 pieces under the "old" price-per-piece ratio, but you get a nice selection, and did a mention a big blue baseplate?
Minifigures: 10/10 - You could make a case that Obi-Wan should be there to, put that would just be complaining for the sake of complaining. You even get two battle droids, with backpacks to boot! Why, with four figs, it's like a conflict battlepack!
Price: 10/10 - As I mentioned, it's under the "old" pppr, but four minifigures more than compensate.
Playability: 9.5/10 - You get conflict, a lightsaber to hack those droids to bits, Two! STAPS, a little diorama to play with them in... it's good, (but I'm sure some flick-fires would make it better… right?).
Build: 7.5/10 - Doing two of the same STAP is annoying, but the outcome is alright! The rest is also a bit repetitive, and quick.
Overall: 9.2/10 - I will be honest, the STAPs don't look so great, but this was '99. For $10, you get two STAPs and a swamp, plus four minifigures, and it's a real movie scene and playset. All in all, despite the design, it's a great buy. And it's based on the creativity of kids' minds, not their ability to flick some stupid missiles.
Extra Factor: Swooshability - 7/10 The STAP are sort of unwieldy, and that's the part you really should be able to swoosh. The swamp, however, can fly around all day!
That's it! I hope you enjoyed this review, and you can also check out my Gungan Sub review for more Episode I swampy fun!
