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Set Name: AAT

Set #: 75080

Theme: Star Wars

Pieces: 251

Minifigures: 3

Year of Release: 2015

MSRP: USD $24.99

INTRODUCTION

Unfortunately, as a child who was just beginning to appreciate the magical world of LEGO, I missed out on the original 2000 AAT. And then I was in my LEGO dark ages when the 2009 revision was released. When I found out that LEGO would be releasing another AAT in 2015, I couldn't wait to see the first preliminary pictures after many years of waiting to finally get my hands on an AAT (which I might add is one of the few prequel vehicles I actually like).

And when those first pictures of the 2015 AAT leaked, it was immediately welcomed with hate and criticism on the internet. People did not like its beefy hull, its small stature, and the minifigure selection. After the full-sized (but in my opinion over-sized) 2009 Clone Wars AAT, a lot of people felt like this was a step down. However, I did my best to remain optimistic. I was relieved it was based on the Episode I version, since I don't like it painted blue as much as tan, and the smaller size meant less pain on my wallet!

Given its low price and my yearning to have an AAT in my collection, I decided to be an early adopter of this set and experience it for myself. Here is the back of the box, which features photos demonstrating the play features, as well as a bunch of CGI pictures of the minifigures interacting, which I don't think I've seen on box art before.

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Here are the contents of the box. We get three numbered bags, one loose piece, and one instruction manual. Thankfully, there is no sticker sheet (although one could argue this set actually needed stickers, which I'll get to later).

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MINIFIGURES

I don't think anyone will be buying this set for the figures. It comes with 2 battle droids and Jar Jar Binks, none of which are new designs. For a while, people thought the battle droids would have new arms, but I can confirm that they do not. While all of the figures included make sense for the set, it would have been nice to get a new, exclusive figure such as Boss Nass.

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Here is a plain battle droid with a blaster, which I'm sure we all have by now.

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Here is the pilot battle droid, another figure I'm sure many of us already have in our collection. Given what this set is though, an AAT needs battle droids for functioning, so it's hard to complain about their inclusion.

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And finally, we have Jar Jar Binks, which I've read is the same version as the one included in the 2011 Battle of Naboo set. He carries his Gungan shield and weapon. Somehow, this is actually my first Jar Jar Binks minifigure. Finally, my Lego SW minifigure collection is complete... :pir-hmpf_bad:

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THE BUILD

To give you an idea of what the build was like, I took a photo after each bag. Here is the vehicle after the first bag:

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After the second bag:

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And after the third and final bag:

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THE AAT:

Here we can see the AAT's profile, which I think pretty accurately captures the design of the tank, especially given the scale.

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From the front, we can see the "chubbiness" of the hull which many complained about, and the GLARING lack of the six frontal launch tubes. As much as I hate stickers, this set really could have benefited by having them (or better yet printed pieces) that depict the front launchers. However, the spring-loaded shooters are concealed, which is nice.

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There's not much to see in the back, aside from the mechanism used to shoot the launchers, which is similar to many of the 2015 sets.

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The pilot can fit comfortably in the center of the tank, even when holding his gun.

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And the other battle droid can fit in the turret, but its pretty tight, and he cannot hold his gun (but why would he anyway?) Boy, that looks like a comfortable position! :wink:

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The top of the tank, if you're curious:

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And because I also have the 2014 MTT and plan on displaying them together, here is how they look next to each other:

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Not bad, not bad at all. (IMHO :blush:)

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And here it is next to the 2014 Advent Calendar AAT. Take that, anyone who thinks this one is small! :tongue:

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CONCLUSION AND RATINGS

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Minifigures: 5/10 - The figs are pretty boring and none of them are new, but they make sense for inclusion in the set. It just would have been nice to get an exclusive fig to give this set more selling power.

Parts: 8/10 - There are tan pieces, lots of them. I like tan. I like it more than the blue of the Clone Wars version of the tank.

Build: 8/10 - It was a fast and simple build, but with a set this small, that's pretty standard.

Price: 10/10 - Given the number of pieces (251) and the price ($24.99) that pretty much hits the golden ratio perfectly, and I while I think $20 would make this set much more tempting for some people, I do think $25 is fair considering the original one was $20 15 years ago and contained far less pieces.

Design: 9/10 - I am positive that a lot of you will disagree with this rating, but given the scale of this set, I think the LEGO designers did a pretty good job of re-creating the tank at this size. It's not blocky like the original and its not on steroids like the 2009 version. Yes, its small, but I don't mind that. The AAT isn't supposed to be a giant vehicle. The only deduction I took off of the design score was the lack of frontal launch tubes.

Playability: 9/10 - As a toy, this is very playable. You get a turret that spins a full 360 degrees, spring-loaded launchers, and minifigures representing both the "good guys" and "bad guys". What more can you ask for?

Overall: 82% - I'm sure many of you will disagree with this score given how much hate this set has gotten on the internet, but honestly, I like this set a lot. I'm happy with it, and while I won't deny that it is indeed small, I think it captures the design of the AAT very well, and its smaller stature makes it both easier to store for display and open to the possibility of buying multiples for building an army. I really dislike the fact it does not have any frontal launchers which I think is an essential part of the AAT, but I suppose stickers on curved pieces are a pain anyway.

If you already have 7155 or 8018, there's probably little reason to get this set, but if you're like me and don't have any AATs yet, I honestly think its worth grabbing. If you have the MTT, if compliments it nicely, and at $25, its hardly an investment.

All in all, even if I'm the only one that feels this way, I'm glad LEGO made this set, and I think it makes a nice addition to any SW prequel collection. As I said about the 2014 MTT in my review, I doubt these will be flying off of shelves given the timing of its release (although I only saw one at the Target I found it at), but the low price will make it tempting for many, unlike the MTT.

Hope you enjoyed reading this!

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Great review. I am really on the fence about this one. The only thing I am not to crazy about is the "bubbly" bumpers, slap the 2000 version printed slopes and I think we would have a winner! They could have at least used the 6x6 rounded slopes and doubled them up similar to the 2009 one. It does look fancy good along side the new MTT too.

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Thanks for very nice review, When I first heard there would be a AAT I was hoping it would be a recoloured 2009 AAT. In my opinion it looks plain ugly and over simplified. :sick::thumbdown:

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If this set had the 6 tube stickers or printed pieces on the front, I wouldn't of hesitated to buy this alongside the MTT. The AAT and MTT compliment each other very well here and a second AAT would look fantastic next to the MTT as well.

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Great review, I'm starting to like this set a little more after I've seen it in a bit more depth. It does go well alongside the MTT and it easier to build an army from them. And price wise it is cheap...

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I like that tank thingy but I also missed out on the original set.

As I am not building too much around Star Wars I might be getting the set to reuse the tan bricks for beaches and the rest for steampunk stuff :wink:

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I own the 2009 Clone Wars version, and thought I didn't need this. I was wrong.

I think this AAT is in perfect scale with the 2007 MTT, which I unfortunately don't have, but have MOC'ed something of the same size.

Many thanks for the review Phil Slender!

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It's an odd little thing really.

The lack of a new figure speaks volumes about the lack of care Lego put into this set - it has a sort of 'making up the numbers' feel.

That said, there's a certain charm to it and if the price is right I can see myself buying it, a case of succeeding without intent I guess

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This is a really nicely done review. Thanks for doing it. :thumbup: I have to agree with all of your ratings and reasons for the scores given to this set. The size is more accurate, regardless of what the others have said. I also like the original color and design of the AAT as opposed to the CW one. I don't think anybody would buy this set for the figs and they are what they are, I guess. :sceptic:

The price is right, and the AAT will make a fine army-builder along with the Hailfire. A few mods, like the aforementioned launch tubes, and there you go. :wink:

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if this set came with a battle droid commander instead of pilot/standard droids, and captain tarpals instead of jar jar, I would have considered getting it. but both the design and minifigs do not appeal to me, besides, I own the 2000 version which I find more accurate to the source material.

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This set is horrible for one simple reason. You cannot lift the gun without accidentally opening the cockpit. The cockpit is unbelievably small even for a battle droid. Also where are the antennae and launch tubes?

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Thanks for the review! I might make a few small mods, like adding tan domes to those engine things, putting a dish piece on the top hatch like on the front hatch, make the lower guns black, and maybe try to find stickers off bricklink. Despite those flaws, I still like the set and look forward to picking it up.

The lack of a new figure speaks volumes about the lack of care Lego put into this set - it has a sort of 'making up the numbers' feel.

this is one thing I'll never understand, why does every set need a new or exclusive figure? I would think putting a figure in more than one set would be a good thing. Edited by arc

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Phil,

Excellent review! I concur that the AAT could have been bigger but the CloneWars version was far to massive. I had multiples of the one from 2000 and still think it was the best scaled. If someone did a cross between this kit and that one you'd have pretty decent AAT. I'd be curious to see what would happen if someone took two of these kits and combined them to make a larger AAT?

I'm also intrigued by the box art. The new CGI pictures are unusual and don't look right on a lego box to me. Then again, my favorite box images are the originals from '99-'01 with the pics on the back of the box of the figs building the sets and the alternate builds.

Great Job with the pics, too. Love the quality. Did you take them with a camera or a phone?

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I have no problems with the size of the set; it is pretty close to the scale it should be. My big issue is that the lower section is far too round. The AAT has a very slight curve, not a hemispherical one like used in this set. The lower section should in reality be only 3, maybe 4 plates tall, yet here it's a whopping 8 plates tall. This is what kills the set for me. It will be one of the last 2015 sets I pick up.

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Very nice review, and great photos. I like how you included other sets for scale.

However, I am in the camp that isn't a fan of the set. It just isn't very well-designed, and looks like it has poor accuracy. I'm not a big PT set collector, but I like to have a decent representation of iconic vehicles. I'll pass on this one.

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Great review! I'm glad that you like the set, because I think you'll be in the minority on this one :tongue:

To be frank, this set is pretty inexcusable. I guarantee Lego wanted to include an AAT to go along with the MTT but could only fit it in the $25 "impulse purchase-y vehicles" line that Lego introduced with the Episode III sets this past winter. If this had been even a $30 set (just five more dollars!) I guarantee the designers would have been able to use different slopes to get rid of the chubbiness of the hull (with some sort of printing/stickers for the launch tubes), include a more desirable minifig, etc. I don't actually blame the set designer given the parameters they were given. A lot of people have pointed out that the size is more accurate- and I completely agree that the CW version was far too large- but it simply doesn't excuse everything else. One of the most disappointing SW sets Lego has ever released, and here I thought the MTT from this summer had already taken that title. But hey, at least they got the size right :grin:

Also, why are the spring-loaded missiles orange? They should definitely be red :wacko: Just the icing on the cake for this set, I guess.

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Great Job with the pics, too. Love the quality. Did you take them with a camera or a phone?

Thanks! I just used my iPhone 6. It's got a pretty impressive camera for a phone.

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Thanks for the review and great photos!

This one's an absolute mess. Since it's neither System nor Microfighter scale it fails to work at either level. I know it's "System scale" with air quotes but I want to see this next to the 7155 just to be sure how wrong this build got.

I really hope this is the last time TLG slips up in such a major way. But the proportional errors here are astronomical. The turret is Bugs-Bunny cartoonish, compared to the advent calendar one I actually think the calendar version is much closer to resembling an AAT. I'm guessing with the kit it may be possible to "fix" it just be rebuilding some of it but... nah. Time to Bricklink another 7155. Luckily the rest of this Star Wars wave looks dandy.

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I'm in the minority here, but I think this set looks good. It's far more size accurate (the 2009 version was ridiculously over-sized and while the 2001 version was closer, it was still too big). The turret should only extend to the very front of the AAT and no farther, but that's a minor gripe.

The biggest misses here are the missile tubes and the shape of the front. It should be sloped and not curved. Other than that, I have no gripes with it. It'll probably be one of the first sets I pick up.

Great review!

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