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My first 2009 ship. I'd never had a Mace Windu before, and I don't mind the Clone War face designs, so I was really looking forward to it. It looks the best of the 2009 first half Clone Wars sets, at least in the catalogue. How does it hold up after it's built?
Set#: 8019
Name: Republic Attack Shuttle
Theme: Star Wars Clone Wars
Year: 2009
Pieces: 636
Minifigs: Mace Windu, Clone Pilot, Clone Trooper (all Clone Wars versions)
MSP: $59.99 U.S., £48.95
Peeron
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From Lego.com
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Packed with massive firepower, the Republic Attack Shuttle sweeps down over the Separatist droid army and unleashes its auto-firing flick missiles and dropping bombs on the enemy. When the smoke clears, it folds its wings and converts to landing mode to drop off Jedi Master Mace Windu and his clone troopers to finish the mission.
The Box
Standard Clone Wars box, mini-figs are featured, and a nice little bit of action is displayed.
The back shows the set features as well as the other sets available at the same time.
The Booklet
Two books. This set has the piece inventory for each step, a feature I like.
10th anniversary ad on the back of one, the old survey on the back of the other. Nothing shocking
There are two instruction pages to show the features.
The Pieces
This set has a nice balance of big and small pieces, and is half in the traditional Republic burgundy and white, the majority of the rest in grey with a bit of yellow.
The parts themselves aren't so rare or fantastic. I like the cockpit piece. This weird white brace piece is used for the legs, there are a bunch of these nice lime-colored pieces, and the see-through aqua engine parts will be useful as greebling.
There are three minifigs. I already have loads of clones, so they are almost like battle droids to me now
.
This is the main incentive to pick up the set, especially if the ship design doesn't turn you on. I quite like the cartoonish illustration on his chest, as well as the metallic handle of the saber, plus the purple color.
The Build
I just reviewed the Slave I ship, and compared to that ship, this one is much simpler, step by step. By the twelfth step, it wasn't so far in. It seems aimed at either younger audiences, or just more user friendly. Very clear instructions anyway.
At the 24th step. the bomb drops (in black) have been put in, and the support of one wing too. This is facing back to front.
36 steps in, the main part of the frame is complete, with smooth ends to allow the top to open.
About 46 steps, essentially the interior is finished. Most steps are just 2-4 pieces, so it's kind of slow
The numbers start over again for some reason, as the roof gets started. Here, the sides have been added, and the black swing locks are in place at the bottom of the picture.
Starting into the second book, the launch mechanism is made in about 20 steps. This is an interesting build, there is a button on the back to push the flick fire missiles, with an elastic in place to reset it after, so you could flick them right after each other if you liked. They shoot out that hole there, which looks really good.
The cockpit is fastened in a rather weak way.
I really like the pattern of the wing, using so many panels creates a realistic effect, and is varied on the underside.
And so it is, we reach
The Finished Product
The wings are up when at rest, and down when in flight.
Head on, it looks pretty good, and you can see a connection to the Imperial Shuttle.
The ship has a really nice silhouette.
Unfortunately, the ship can't be displayed with the wings down without holding it. A set like this really could have used a stand. So, I've made one!
The landing gear is a really weak point for the set, they're not well designed at all.
Except for the landing gear, it looks great from behind.
The underside is nothing special, and could have been done much better. The burgundy on the wings help make it look better though.
Features
The firing button works great, it really pushed the missile out, and the launch spot is in the ship, so they just magically pop out. Really well done.
The cockpit is utterly un-greebled. The shape is great, the A-shape is really cool, but the interior is nothing special.
"You know how to fly this?" "No clue, you?"
"Aw well, what can you do?"
The inside isn't much better. Just a seat. I've seen a MOC or two that improves this a lot. It also has a "light saber holder" which always bugs me since it's exactly what the characters wouldn't use.
Mace isn't so happy inside here.
The back jets do look really nice, and the technique to get them to sit securely at a near 45 degree angle is quite neat.
The bombs work really nicely too though. These grey panels are connected to the black switch at the left.
Twist it and gravity will do the rest.
The bombs also drop one at a time. Two are loaded.
One gets dropped, at the same time releasing the second.
When the switch returns, the second is now ready to drop.
The Final Verdict
Design: 8/10 Some of this ship is really amazing; the wings, the cockpit design, the firing mechanisms... Then some of it looks so unfinished; the interiors, the underside. It really seems like this was rushed out, and is one of the poorest overall Clone Wars ships I've seen. The colors, well, I don't know. At first I thought it was really gaudy, then it looked really cool and retro, and then back into ugly again. The color scheme is pretty out there. I think in a few years though, this will look much better. Ugly design usually looks much better years later. The 8 score here is because what's cool here is very cool and makes up somewhat for the uncool parts.
Build: 7/10 It's a little boring, but not terrible. The cockpit was my favorite part.
Playability: 9/10 This would be fun, I think. You can hold it with one hand, and release the weapons on the other. Also, this set seems really MODable. There is a lot of room to improve this ship, and a good variety of pieces.
Minifigures: 8/10 Three figures is a fair amount, and you get Windu. I'm satisfied there.
Price: 9/10 It seems fair, a good price for the pieces and figures.
Overall: 8/10 This is an interesting but disappointing set. In no way is it bad, it just seems to need a lot more to make it a great set. I would've rather seen Lego make this a massive, 1000+ piece set. If you've seen it appear in the Clone Wars, it's bigger than the Republic Gunship. That would have made this a perfect set, and allowed the space to fix up the interior.
Cheers all.
This post has been edited by KimT: 30 March 2009 - 07:47 PM
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Posted 08 August 2009 - 10:45 AM
