REVIEW: Set 8016 Hyena Droid Bomber

[Millacol88]

With the new 2009 line of Star wars lego comes the Hyena Droid Bomber. A good price per parts ratio and a brand new minifigure set this apart, but is it worth the money?

Find out in this review!

Set Name: Hyena Droid Bomber

Set Number: 8016

Theme: Star Wars

Year: 2009

Price: USD 19.99,CDN 26.99, GBP 19.55, EUR 26.95

Pieces: 232

Minifigures: 3

Lego Shop description:

Switch modes to demolish the Republic!

Switching between walker, bomber and attack modes, the Hyena Droid is a powerful multi-purpose weapon for the Separatists as seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars . Features four dropping bombs and three all-new rocket battle droid minifigures. Pivot the wings for flying and walking positions! Includes 3 new droid minifigures with special jet packs! Measures 10" (25cm) wide by 8" (20cm) long!

Peeron

Brickset

Bricklink

My Brickshelf

Review

The Box

Front

In typical Star Wars fashion, the box displays an action scene with plenty of laser bursts and explosions. While the rocket droids soar through space, the centerpiece of the set, the droid bomber, drops several bombs on its target, an odd-looking purple world.

Back

This shows the features of the set, such as the dropping bombs, the movable wings, and the slightly articulated cockpit.

Instructions

Front

Back

Minifigures

Here are the "Rocket Droids" that can only be found in this set. I am not sure whether they make an appearance in the CW movie or TV series. Although its nice to have some droid parts in different colours, these really aren't that much different than the ordinary B1 battle droids we all have a million of by now. The "rocket" on the MFs back is a 1x1 dark gray plate with binoculars attached to it.

Weapons/Extra Pieces

In the way of weapons we get three of the standard blaster mold. The extra pieces that are included consist of one dark gray and one trans-orange 1x1 plate, two different kinds of droid arms, and a technic pin.

Stickers/Decals

uggh...One is too many. This set relies heavily on stickers to add detail to it. I did not apply them, nor will I ever. i would have paid up to 10 dollars more for this set if most of these had been printed.

Hyena Droid Bomber

Walker Mode

The bomber looks okay, and in its walker form is quite menacing to behold. However, it looks too much like an oversized vulture droid for my taste.

Flight Mode

In flight mode the bomber presents a sleek profile, and the only parts that really stick out are the ones that connect the wings to the main body of the ship.

We see too many of these enormous, and utterly useless pieces.

As I mentioned before, this is the ugliest part of the ship. It just doesn't fit in with the sleek lines of the rest of it.

For some reason there are two "cockpits". Perhaps the ships appearance in the CW will explain why.

one of the cockpits raises up. While I'm not sure how much of a feature that is, I felt I should mention it.

This bomb-droppping mechanism is the most playable part of the set, and works much better than the one of the droid gunship. pulling back the one of the two technic pieces releases the bombs.

Here's a bottom view of the connecting device. It's useful to mention that it turns in order to switch to walker or flight mode.

Entire Set

An overall shot of everything included in the set. You get quite a few parts for the price, but the ship doesn't look all that great.

Overall

Design: 6/10 The ship looks like a rehash of previous ones.

Build: 7/10 There's nothing new or unique in the way the set is built. It would have been nice to see more originality.

Playability: 8/10 There aren't many features, but the bomb-dropping makes this a lot of fun.

Minifigures: 6/10 There's nothing new here except different colour droid torsos.

Price: 7/10 This set has a better price per piece than most of the other '09 SW sets.

Total: 34/50

Conclusion

In the end, this one leaves a lot to be desired. The ship itself isn't that original or well-designed, and the minifigures aren't so great either. If your a CW completist, I recommend you buy this, but if not, I wouldn't bother. There are other sets that are much more worth your money (*cough* Vader's TIE *cough*).

Comments and constructive criticism are welcome!

Thank you for reading my review!

Edited April 26, 2009 by Millacol88
indexed

[-JD-]

Good review! I like this set. It could have had a few more functions though.

JD

Btw, I would gladly have your sticker sheet. But as you live in Canada, no point.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Jammiedodger714

[Tim Bit]

Well I picked up the set yesterday.

If you were to apply the stickers you would get one head the other supporting a targeting system below the ship.

Nice reveiw.

[Zorro]

Ouch, nice review but I would resize the pictures a bit though...

[KimT]

Ouch, nice review but I would resize the pictures a bit though...

Arrrrgh my eyes...my eeeeeyeeeeeessss.

Resize the pics please.

Resize and I'll frontpage this review instantly.

[-JD-]

It resizes them automatically on my computer. Don't know why though....

[KimT]

It resizes them automatically on my computer. Don't know why though....

Yeah, it does so on mine as well.

But that doesn't change the fact that I have to download the full size at first and then it's resized to fit the screen.

That's the reason for the max 800x600 size rule.

[Millacol88]

Yeah, it does so on mine as well.

But that doesn't change the fact that I have to download the full size at first and then it's resized to fit the screen.

That's the reason for the max 800x600 size rule.

I'm very sorry about that, I forgot to change the settings on my camera to automatically take pics at a smaller res. Do I have to resize the pics then re-upload them to brickshelf?

EDIT: I have resized all pictures and they seem to be displaying correctly.

Edited December 29, 2008 by millacol88

[darkrebellion]

Well great review millacol88 . Well I don´t think this set is that bad in my opinion . The overall fighter looks fantastic to me maybe cause I the CIS army vehicles (Even more than the republic ones ). The minifigs are cool nothing that interesting but still a new kind of droid is welcome . The stickers are really needed in this model in my opinion cuase without them it just looks very simple. Also the other head doesn´t move cause I think is the sensor computer so it needs another "head" to be included in the fighter and I think the purple planet is Toydaria as seen in the first episode of the show .

[I Scream Clone]

I'm very sorry about that, I forgot to change the settings on my camera to automatically take pics at a smaller res. Do I have to resize the pics then re-upload them to brickshelf?

EDIT: I have resized all pictures and they seem to be displaying correctly.

I'm not sure about your review structure, but I like to bold all of the relevant set information when I review.

Cheers on good content. I like the dark orange torso's but the ship looks a little underwhelming, must really rely on the stickers as you said.

Edited December 29, 2008 by I Scream Clone

[KimT]

Thanks for the resizing.

Added to the Review Index and frontpaged as well.

[hollisbrick]

Great review

Personelly I realy like this set Although It wasn't AS good as I thought so thanks for preparing me for the cons But I'm gonna get it anyway Those droids are nice too But I'm a bit dissapointed that the jetpacks are just binoculars

Thanks again

[pedro]

Cheers for another great review millacol88.

I've totally agree about the DSS. There's way, way too much reliance on stickers in this set and at the very least essential details such as the droid's eyes [or optics ] should be printed so that those wishing to avoid using stickers can still have a Hyena that 'sees'. This logic should apply to any set I believe.

This is a low priority purchase for me although I wouldn't mind getting it on sale for those droids... I think they'd make a good starting point for Droid Commandos However at the rate LEGO is churning out these Clone Wars sets I wouldn't be at all surprised if those are on the cards for an official release!

[M'Kyuun]

I'll venture a second opinion. I got two of these for Christmas and built one so far. I like the set. I like the Vulture droid design (it's a transforming fighter in the SW universe), and this is pretty much a Vulture on steroids. It's pretty solid in all modes, and it's pretty sleek in fighter. The head doesn't rotate right or left, but just pivots straight up; it's a minor design weakpoint on this set. I don't mind the technic connection point for the legs, but to each his own. The firing mechanism allows two bombs at a time to drop. The targeting sensor pivots down, but again, does not rotate. As mentioned, it relies very heavily on stickers to convey detail. I personally find applying the curved stickers to the large curved pieces an exercise in super-human patience if one is trying to get them on there straight and symmetrical. But overall, it's a nice looking model if stickers are applied, and it's pretty imposing when standing over the minifigs. As for the astro-droids, I always like variety in colors on the droids; the binocular jetpacks are a cheap way of rendering the effect..doesn't kill it for me b/c I like the primary model; the astrodroids are icing on the cake. BTW, if anyone is wondering, there's no room in this for a pilot (it's a droid, it doesn't need one).

[Lt. de Martinet]

We see too many of these enormous, and utterly useless piece.

I hate the phrase "utterly useless" when used to refer to a LEGO piece; no piece is ever useless. It just means that we haven't found its true purpose yet!

[The Penguin]

First of all, I would like to thank you for your review of this great set, millacol88. )

But there are still some points upon which I'm afraid I cannot agree:

Design: 6/10 The ship looks like a rehash of previous ones.

Build: 7/10 Theres nothing new or unique in the way the set is built. It would have been nice to see more originality.

Playability: 8/10 There aren't many features, but the bomb-dropping makes this a lot of fun.

Minifigures: 6/10 Theres nothing new here except different colour droid torsos.

Price: 7/10 This set has a better price per piece than most of the other '09 SW sets.

Total: 34/50

Design: I cannot agree here.... ) It does look like Vulture Droid, but in my opinion it's much better, well-designed and sturdy-looking Droid. ) It has great colors, menacing look and indeed is symbolising the might of the CIS. )

Build: Well, again, can't agree here.... ) The set is fun to build, stickers were not a problem to me and the idea with those black "sticks" seems quite good to me. )

Playability: Well, here I agree more or less. ) But what other features does a bomber need? ) I guess that nice launcing device it enough, isn't it? )

Minifigures: Well, and that is the set's greatest advantage. Despite the fact that those droids only have different colours, they themselves look simply stunning! ) And they always may be used for MODs, such as droid commando, for example. )

Price: Totally agree. )

Thank you for your attention! )

And thanks again, millacol88! )

Edited December 30, 2008 by The Penguin

[DarthPineapple]

I really hate this set, it's pretty ugly, very poorly designed and it's MASSIVELY overpriced at $42...

Edited December 30, 2008 by DarthPineapple

[baby]

A nice review you put up.

This set looks ugly if no stickers were apply.

But still, I will get one of this

[MaxGoof]

I really hate this set, it's pretty ugly, very poorly designed and it's MASSIVELY overpriced at $42...

But this set is only $20...

[KimT]

Prices are different around the world.

Let's not get into the price rant here!

[General Magma]

Thanks for the review! I think this set is good enough for me to get put on my wishlist for my birthday in 2009.

Off-Topic: Oh, I just realized, I am a citizen now!

Edited December 30, 2008 by General Magma

[Wout]

Thank you for the nice review.

Although it is not a very great set, It is also not that bad, but I would liked an extra droid in it.

The "big utterly useless pieces" are not a really concern for me as I would want a cheap opportunity to get 2 light grey pieces of these.

[Darth Caedus]

Overall

Design: 6/10 The ship looks like a rehash of previous ones.

Build: 7/10 Theres nothing new or unique in the way the set is built. It would have been nice to see more originality.

Playability: 8/10 There aren't many features, but the bomb-dropping makes this a lot of fun.

Minifigures: 6/10 Theres nothing new here except different colour droid torsos.

Price: 7/10 This set has a better price per piece than most of the other '09 SW sets.

Design: Actually, I have to disagree here, this Vulture Droid Bomber looks a lot sturdier than its previous incanrations, and also is actually a nod to the Old Trilogy's TIE Bomber, which had two "cockpits", one with a pilot; while this has two "heads", one with eyes.

Build: I've always liked LEGO's take on Vulture droids, so more of the same is not a bad thing.

Playability: It's got nonflickfire missiles, that's all I need.

Minifigures: The droid color schemes is a great thing IMO, plus, a 20 dollar set with three minifigs and a big ship is great by CW standards (V19 Piece-o-garbage, I'm looking at your massive price and one minifig )

Considering LEGO didn't have to include any droids at all....three BDs raises this set to almost battlepack proportions.

Price: This set actually goes under the 'standard' 10 cents a part, so that's great for a licensed set.

The heavy amount of stickers can surely be problematic for some, I apply them though, although I would prefer printed. IMO, this set complments Ahsoka's starfighter well, for you get a a great balue with this set and then it averages out with the slightly pricejacked Ahsoka's ship. Two Vultures and a Jedi Starfighter, along with Ahsoka a bunch of droids, and that's a pretty good haul for total $60

Edited December 31, 2008 by Darth Caedus

[DarthPineapple]

But this set is only $20...

Nope, it's $42 here. All SW sets here are twice your price from now on...

[KimT]

Nope, it's $42 here. All SW sets here are twice your price from now on...

Prices are different around the world.

Let's not get into the price rant here!

What don't you understand.

Leave the interregional price difference rants at home please