37 replies to this topic

[Navy Trooper Fenson]

Name: Separatists Shuttle
Set: 8038
Theme: Star Wars
Subtheme: The Clone Wars
Year: 2009
Pieces: 259
Minifigs: 2 (and three Battledroids)
Price: 36.99 Euro, 29.99 USD, 39.99 Canada Dollar
Resources: Brickset

The new Star Wars summer wave has hit Germany and when I heard from the first sight of sets at TRU I ran several miles to the next TRU in Cologne and to my surprise, I wasn t fooled. The whole summer batch is there, except the three exclusive sets 7753, 7754 and 7778. I "only" took one tank droid, Echo Base, neimodian shuttle and Endor playset and disrupt my marathon-build after the first part of Endor playset for doing this review.

Here is the european box. It is as big as 8017 Vaders TIE and has the exact same piececount. Poorly the ship alone seems to unexciting, so LEGO had to fill the boxart with function pictures to make it more attractive.



The back has another view to the functions.



The instruction booklet is as big as the one from 7681 Spider Walker.



Sorry, in my haste to enjoy and review this set, I didn't take any pictures of the sealed bags.

The stickersheet:



To the figures! We got 2 "normal" figures and 3 reinforcements for our trade army.





Nute Gunray isn t the happiest guy in this set, but I feel happy for him finally being made. It took ten years for our grey friend to be made and he is one of the mayor baddies in the new Star Wars movies!



Gunrays Back



I don t know if it s me, but this hat really looks like an egg chair.




Also a long travel needed Senator Farr. His head is recycled from Greedo from the now astronomical overpriced Mos Eisley Cantina in wich it had different printing. The senator looks good, but I find his torso a little plain. Well, it didn t really had much to offer.





Back of the head.



And underneath.



The droids don t really need much explanation, but it was strange that after the build two new arms and one old arm remained, when it s normally one new and one old arm. Maybe they just put the extra arm into for swapping, when the pilot is needed to fight.

The shuttle without stickers:



And with stickers:



With retracted landing strut.



Little and nice detail under the ship.



The cockpit has the same eyes as the vulture droids.



Under the big coverage piece are three blue eyes.



When you open the coverage, the little antenna goes into the big wing.



The cockpit has one standing room and no corellian leather like the 7678 Droid Gunship.



Behind the pilots head is storage room (3x4x1 studs). Maybe for blasters and extra arms.



The shell is very detailed



The aft-wing.



Now we come to the most interesting function: the synchronal doors. Lego have come up with an ingenious way to make both doors open at the same time. This is a great play feature that is an accurate adaption from the Clone Wars cartoon. What a shame that they couldn t build the same function in the 8038 Endor playset.

Closed



Open



Inside the ship



With Gunray



Trying to put all three figures in the ship



Gunray outside of the ship.



At the ceiling are yellow lights.



The mechanism



All extra parts and arms



The complete set



The Final Verdict

Design: 10/10: Excellent, couldn t have been better.

Build: 9/10 Everything is fine and normal. Poorly no new parts except from Gunrays head.

Playability: 7/10 Nice functions, but the shuttle hasn t as much action-scenes in the movies and the show than other ships like the Nu-Class shuttle or Jedi starfighters.

Minifigures: 10/10 Great selection, maybe a new Jar Jar Binks could have been nice, but not necessary.

Price: 7/10 For some people it seems that it s only worth 27Euros but the EXCELLENT figures make me satisfied.

Overall: 43/50 or 8,5/10

I recommend this set to every minifig collector and army parade builder.

Edited by KimT, 25 May 2009 - 12:29 PM.

[Kliq]

Thank you, thank you for this fantastic review.  This has been one of the sets I was looking forward to most from the Star Wars summer line.  The sliding door mechanism looks great, as do the minifigs.  Great work on the review, and I'm very envious of you having this set.

[GoN2Broadway]

Nice job on the review!  I am so excited to get this set, and I have to say I really love the rear door mechanism!  I didn't realize that it had that functionality, but it makes me more excited to get it now!

[DaBrickster]

Thanks for the great review!   The more I look at this set, the more i want it........

The Nute Gunray figure is fantastic!

[WhiteFang]

Great job indeed. This review had defintely made me convinced to get this set no matter what. For the whole range of minifigs and the Shuttle's playing mechanism are real fun factors. In fact, this shuttle was featured in many parts of the Clone Wars story. Certainly, it's one of the sig aircraft. I thought the shuttle is an odd looking shape, but somehow, it really looks beautiful with its landing gear and the shuttle door. A very fun playing aircraft.  

Thanks for sharing it with us.  

[Commander_Rob]

Great review and a good set too. I saw this coming when I spotted your pictures on Brickshelf this morning.
My only complaint about this set is that Gunray is grey when he really should be green, sand green even.

[Jammiedodger]

Thanks for this excellent review. I must say that mechanism is very good and the colour scheme is also great. Shame that the cockpit isn't bigger.

Greetings,
JD

[TheBrickHitHouse]

One of the best sets I've ever seen - love the design, love the figs (5!)

...shame about the price, but I could say the same for any lego set

I will deff get this...maybe two....

[Oky]

Thanks for this in-depth review. You did a good job on it, even though I'm still not quite sold on this set yet. The two new minifigs are nice, but I'm hoping that they will come in a magnet set or something at some point. The rest of the set seems somewhat useless to me. The ship isn't exactly the most well designed ship in Star Wars, and it's not the most relevant either, so I could pass on it easily. However, those sliding doors are quite neat, and if I'm going to get Gunray at some point, I will need a ship for him to travel in. I'll have to think about it.

Quote

Little and nice detail under the ship.

Sure, it's a nice detail, but what's the point of it? I mean, why didn't yhey just use another one of those slope pieces?

Quote

Minifigures: 10/10 Great selection, maybe a new Jar Jar Binks could have been nice, but not necessary.

Jar Jar?? What about Padme! It's incredible that we haven't had a Padme fig since Episode I, and this was the one set where she could have been in! But yeah, I guess one main bad guy and one main good guy are enough.

[General Magma]

Great review! It's an awesome set and I am planning to get it soon.
Thanks for sharing it with us.  

[darkrebellion]

Thanks for the great review   . I really love this set, it looks great designed also and I have and special attraction to non war oriented ships of SW   , maybe its beacuse we rarely see one in the common LSW line-up   . The Nute Gunray minifig is maybe the most beautiful one of this year together with the totally new Admiral Ackbar   . This is the set I am most looking foward to get together with the Endor one and the Pirate Tank   .

[Future74]

Thanks for the great review, I really enjoyed it  

Navy Trooper Fenson, on May 23 2009, 06:14 PM, said:

I don t know if it s me, but this hat really looks like an egg chair.

Hahaha you're so right, very funny  

[Corvus]

Looks like a great set, I'll  be sure to pick it up. But you know what's best about it?

No fleshies!   While the Rodian's torso may be a bit plain, It'll be nice to have some good aliens.

[prateek]

i like this set, but im kinda disappointed that there are only 2 figs and 3 droids they should've only given 2 droids and 1 more fig. good review though i just had my bday and i might get this with the money

[Dadster]

Nice review!  Thanks!!

[YG-49]

The Onaconda fig is all wrong! It should have blue hands and mostly blue head!

[Darth Legolas]

Sweet review! I'm loving the pilot droid!

Going to TRU today, surprisingly hoping that these are not there, as I'm not (TODAY) aiming to buy them. Don't wanna be tempted.

[Bricklanta]

I look forward to getting this set just for Gunray and the droids.

[Zenox]

I dont like Nute Gunray, but i dont have any droids, and the ship is awesome so im thinking about getting this set.
I love the opening doors and the landing gear!

[Wout]

Thank you for the nice review.   
It's nice too have Nute Gunray after ten years lego Star wars. He could be made a little bit greener, but I was happy to hear they finally made a fig of him.
Even more happier am I about the re-use of Greedo's head for the rodian senator   (just forgot his name). I don't know if his colour was good, but I'm always happy too see some more nice made sw aliens. A new fig of Senator Amidala in this set would be a Terriffic addition, but now TLC decided they don't put it in here, I hope they would put her in a new set for januari.
The spaceship was not really important for me, but now I have seen some features, I think I will like it more.

[calebexo01]

wow. that door mechanisim is amazingly ingenious and the figures are awesome! and now, another star wars
set that i must buy because it is awesome.

Navy Trooper Fenson, on May 23 2009, 12:14 PM, said:

I don t know if it s me, but this hat really looks like an egg chair.





Little and nice detail under the ship.

it really does look like an egg chair! thats really funny.

i think they didnt use a regular inverted slope for the "detail under the ship" because it looks like the ship is built in two parts and connected with a technic pin and then the top is added. the inverted slope would make in unable to be put together in that way. am i right?


thanks for the great review!

Edited by calebexo01, 24 May 2009 - 11:33 PM.

[Abaddon127]

Thanks for the review.  I also noticed the discrepancy with Gunray's grey coloring when he should have been sand green.

[KimT]

Thank you for this elaborate and great review
I saw this in Legoland and decided to buy it later.
Your review makes me kinda regret that I didn't buy it.

[Legoman]

KimT, on May 25 2009, 09:08 AM, said:

Thank you for this elaborate and great review
I saw this in Legoland and decided to buy it later.
Your review makes me kinda regret that I didn't buy it.

You passed this beauty up?    I can't beleive the other staff trusted you to be a MOD if we can't trust you with buying a lovely set like this when you see it    (Just kidding...)

I really like this set, Gunray rocks, and that other fig isn't too bad. The ship is great, i don't think they could have made it better!

Once again, i can't wait for this beauty to get over here to NZ!  

[KimT]

legoman, on May 25 2009, 08:14 AM, said:

You passed this beauty up?    I can't beleive the other staff trusted you to be a MOD if we can't trust you with buying a lovely set like this when you see it    (Just kidding...)

Sorry, but I chose Endor and Hoth instead.
My bad