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[Clone O'Patra]

"There is always a bigger fish." - Qui-Gon Ginn

Set Name: Gungan Sub
Set #: 7161
Theme: Star Wars Episode 1
Pieces: 375
Minifigures: 3
Year of Release: 1999
Price at Release: USD $49.99
Buy it? Inventory? Bricklink Peeron

I acquired this set in 1999 or 2000 at a Toys R Us when there was a buy two get one half off sale. The other set I got that day was 7150 TIE Fighter and Y-wing (perhaps I'll get around to rebuilding that and reviewing it). My sister got to build and keep this set; she wanted it because it was the only set with Obi-Wan at the time and she had a crush on Obi-Wan. It has sat on a shelf collecting dust for some time, and I spent a good few hours scrubbing it with a toothbrush and washcloth for this review.

INSTRUCTIONS

Since it belonged to my sister and she had the instructions, I cannot find them. I bring you the pictures of the instructions from peeron.com.

The front, with usual layout/design from Episode 1 sets of that time.


A random page. These instructions are actually a little hard to read in that you have to really look around to see the new pieces being added, as you can see in these two steps.


The back, with the cute little minifigs building the set design and interesting alternative models, definetly something a kid could come up with.


There are also some other alternative models inside the instructions as well as a comic, but I have so many other pictures to show you I decided to omit those and let you go to peeron.com yourself and look if you like.


SET

Before I begin my overview, I must tell you that I am missing three pieces. I cannot find a second one of the gray tube or a fourth rock with plant such as these:



Now onto the set. Here is the overview pic, with comments to come below as I go through absolutely everything.



MINIFIGURES

The Gungan Sub comes with three characters with hyphenated names: Qui-Gon, Jar-Jar, and Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon and Jar-Jar came in several other sets. But not of course the rare "bad shave" Qui-Gon you see here. I'm only joking, it's a misprint! Young Obi-Wan only came in this set, which made him rare at the time. I have to wonder why Obi-Wan has to wear a hood, instead of having hair like Qui-Gon does. Did LEGO not feel like making a hairpiece for Obi-Wan, or did they just want to give buyers a brown head? We'll never know... (Lightsaber hilts are old chrome by the way)


And the backs, not much to see here except Qui-Gon's braid and Jar-Jar's nice head mold.


The minifigures really are one of the best parts of this set, nothing missing here!


ROCKS

It wasn't enough to just have a Gungan Sub, or LEGO was trying to reach a certain piece count, so they threw in these rocks with seaweed and stingray. This is an ok addition, but as you will see they should have concentrated on just making a better sub instead of adding a random rock formation. The clam and starfish are nice additions once you have it, though.


The back of the rock formation. The build of these rocks is not straight up and down, which is good, put it still just looks like a pile of bricks. Gray bricks, though, and those are always welcome.



GUNGAN SUB

No, for any of you still wondering, a Gungan Sub is not a submarine sandwich with Jar-Jar meat. Sorry, you Jar-Jar haters.
Now comes the worst, and biggest, part of this set. Of all the blocky Ep1 models, this is about the blockiest and worst, a sleek ship pretty much trashed by LEGO. It reminds me of stingrays, a theme I never cared for.

Here is an overhead look. The profile of this ship is just so square, and it should be so smooth and rounded. The only good parts I see here are those printed cockpits, printed folding tiles on top, and blue anchor, as I will discuss separately below.


An already striking problem is how movie-inaccurate this set is in regard to where the minifigs are. They are supposed to all be in the front cockpit, but LEGO has put them each in a separate compartment. And it is Obi-Wan driving in the movie, so he should be in he front anyway!

But never fear ye movie fans, all the minifigs can be fit into the front cockpit, without a single mod!


I said they could fit, I never said they could fit well!


Both sides are the same, so here's just the left one:


Now the back, showing the long blue tales and trans-orange light. This picture also better shows how low down the cockpits are on the ship, and how flat it is.



This is what is in each side compartment of the ship, controls for Obi-Wan and... Jar-Jar? Who would ever give controls to Jar-Jar, that is a bad idea! Those bricks also look uncomfortable for minifigs backs on long journeys.


And poor Qui-Gon in the front gets no controls at all!



Looking at the above pictures, you may have noticed some flaps on the ship.
First, there are these two in front of the side compartments, opening to reveal rudders, or spinners, or whatever they're called.


Then the middle "cargo bay" opens up...


...to reveal these two, things. Ok, they're actually alternate engines. For what, you ask? Wait and see, I'm getting to it.


The front and tail sections of the ship are attached by pegs and holes, and are detachable. This is the simple attaching system.


Here is the whole set detached. Note that those trans-orange spinners from the secret hatches attach to one of the alternate engines.


Now Qui-Gon can zoom away on stealth missions,
using engine 1:


Engine 2:


And engine 3:



Meanwhile, back at the ship... Obi and Jar-Jar are stranded! This is ludicrous! Why would anybody playing with this set want to fly off with Qui-Gon and leave our other friends behind?
Qui-Gon: Bye guys, I'll be back in a bit.
Obi-Wan: Oh, off on another useless adventure master.
Jar-Jar: Meesah pressin' dah buttons while yousa gone, ockie day?!
(Note: that is not in the movie.)


However, if Qui-Gon is using engines 2 or 3, they can have some fun driving around backwards!



SPECIAL PIECES

In this last section, I'll discuss the special pieces in this set. The Gungan Sub comes with three of the same uniquely printed cockpit pieces and four uniquely printed folding pieces. While there are no other Star Wars ships from the movies I can see these in, they certainly could be put to good use in Gungan MOCs, or any underwater MOCs at all. Those folding tiles also look a bit like Rorschach from Watchmen, so maybe they could be used in a "Rorschach Ship." The blue anchor would go great in brightly colored imperial or pirate MOCs. Those three gray printed tiles were quite common in Star Wars sets of that time, but are still special. Plenty of industrial uses. Lastly, the Sub comes with four of those trans-orange bricks pictured here. Also great in underwater MOCs and MOCs that need odd lights.




Well, I'm out of pictures, so I'll start summing it up. This set is way too blocky, making it look ugly. It is pretty sturdy, so you can swoosh it around. The whole mini-detaching thing is an interesting feature, but it's really silly, leaves the other minifigs behind, and looks even worse than the whole sub together. The rock formation is also nice-ish, but what are you supposed to do with it in relation to the set? That component seems to be for display only, and I wouldn't want to display the ship in the first place. All of the pieces going towards these dumb features should have been used to improve the look of the Gungan Sub itself, which is the main part of this set! And why does Obi-Wan have to wear that hood all the time, it must get awfully stuffy!

So, the ratings:

Minifigs: 9/10 - only because Obi-wan should at least come with a hair alternative.
Pieces: 8/10 - ok selection, nice printed pieces, blue anchor, and trans-orange bricks, but not enough pieces total and not the right pieces to make it look sleek.
Build: 6/10 - here I deduct points because the thing is just darn ugly.
Playability: 8/10 - you can swoosh it and change those engines on the mini-sub, but not much else.
Price: 7.5/10 - should have been ten bucks cheaper for that piece count.
Overall: 7.7/10 - a calculated score, that looks about right to me.

Sometimes I wish this had been a submarine sandwich with Jar-Jar meat, so then I could gobble it up and not have to look at it again. But wait, I'm vegetarian!

I hope you enjoyed my first big review, and please comment.

[RileyC]

I loved this ship in The Phantom Menace but I also feel that lego mucked this one up. I think they should redo it next year

[prateek]

to me, this isnt that bad, but redo would be good

[Clone O'Patra]

I would also love a redo. I remember a poll on LEGO.com several years ago, asking which set fans would most like to see a new version of. The Sith Infiltrator was on it, so maybe that won.

WHile new sets from Ep1 seem unlikely to me soon, perhaps The Clone Wars will have another Naboo episode that features a Gungan Sub, and then we can get a new one. That would be awesome, and make for some new CW characters, my favorite!

[Derek]

Nice review. But as for the set itself, ew. This is a perfect example of how much better and more realistic Lego is getting with their models. The entire set just looks too blocky and messy. Once Lego calms down with the Clone Wars, I would like to see this set remade. I think they could do a fantastic job with all of the pieces we've gotten since then. I like the actual vehicle in the movies, and I think that it should be done properly before the theme ends (granted the liscense isn't renewed...)

Thanks for the review!

[KimT]

Fantastic review of this fine old set.
I've just found it cheap, so within long this'll be sitting in my collection

[Natman8000]

KimT, on Mar 19 2009, 02:37 PM, said:

Fantastic review of this fine old set.
I've just found it cheap, so within long this'll be sitting in my collection

I bet you are so happy now.

Great review, this set was a big deal for me when it came out, but now it seems empty.

[darkrebellion]

Great review . I still can´t know why so many people consider this set so ugly to me it looks ok (Not great but not all that bad) and by the way the old Sith Infiltrator looked a lot blockier in my opinion . This set looks fine but a redo is totally needed too. Anyone can imagine how great an Otho Gunga playset with this sub and some minifigs (Including Boss Nass) could be?

[prateek]

darkrebellion, on Mar 19 2009, 11:11 PM, said:

Great review . I still can´t know why so many people consider this set so ugly to me it looks ok (Not great but not all that bad) and by the way the old Sith Infiltrator looked a lot blockier in my opinion . This set looks fine but a redo is totally needed too. Anyone can imagine how great an Otho Gunga playset with this sub and some minifigs (Including Boss Nass) could be?

I agree, this set doesn't even look bad

[Clone O'Patra]

To me, this set is just too flat and blocky. The sub in the movie is smooth and rounded, and looks like the organism that it is supposed to be. Star Wars trivia-ish: Gungan subs are grown, not built. This set, on the other hand, looks just like a machine to me, and is cut off halfway. The Sub is supposed to be rounded around the bottom as well as the top, but this is just a flat top on an even flatter bottom.

[prateek]

Clone O'Patra, on Mar 20 2009, 01:05 AM, said:

To me, this set is just too flat and blocky. The sub in the movie is smooth and rounded, and looks like the organism that it is supposed to be. Star Wars trivia-ish: Gungan subs are grown, not built. This set, on the other hand, looks just like a machine to me, and is cut off halfway. The Sub is supposed to be rounded around the bottom as well as the top, but this is just a flat top on an even flatter bottom.

if you put it that way, then it is too machine-y but otherwise, if you dont know the Gungan sub's background story (like me) the you would think its fine

BTW, Happy 100th post/Citizenship

This post has been edited by prateek: 20 March 2009 - 12:13 AM

[soc399]

Nice review, thanks! I never got this set, since it came out in my dark ages, but I did pick up a few of the printed cockpit pieces on Bricklink last month. The set itself seems just OK, but I wish they still put so many great printed pieces in sets. Darthperson is totally right that this set is a good example of how Lego design has improved in the official sets since the launch of the line. If they did release an updated Gungan sub, I would buy it in a second.

[CommanderCody77]

Great review! I wish I had got this set but now its too late! I definitely want TLC to redo it

[Svelte]

I also think this set isn't too bad. Sure it's flat on the bottom, but isn't that common to a lot of early SW sets? Even the recent ones aren't exactly busting with detail when it comes to this. I haven't seen the movie for a while, but with all the navy blue that's come out recently, it probably wouldn't be too hard to mod a sleeker and more curvacious version.

Apart from that, the pieces are nice and the modularity is a really interesting feature. I'm even glad for the bit of scenery, because at least in the early days they were trying to get some background detail in.

Great review!

[Darth Yoda]

Not the best set, but I have to say that those special pieces are quite cool!