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Welcome to my review of the 7679 Republic Fighter Tank! In the United States, this set was exclusive to Target stores for a limited time. Ever since it came out, I've had my eye on this set, but unfortunately, they were taken off of Target shelves after the 2008 holiday season. Nearly a year later, in October 2009, I was strolling through my local Target's Lego aisle when, behold! The Fighter Tank was restocked! I immediately snatched this off the shelf and built it as soon as I got home. Now, I present to you the review. Enjoy!
Set: 7679 Republic Fighter Tank
Year Released: 2008
Theme: Star Wars/ Clone Wars
Number of Pieces: 592
Number of Minifigs: 2
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Box
The front of the box is pretty basic. It shows overall set, minifigures, information, and some fancy photoshopping with the lasers. One thing that I've noticed lately is that many Star Wars sets have that boring desert planet background on their box picture. Maybe it's to keep it simple, and have the buyer's attention on the set, but a change from the usual would be nice. The material for the outside of the box is very glossy, as per all Clone Wars sets.
The back shows some play features, as well as a few other sets released at the same time that this was.
Contents
As you spill out the contents after opening the taped box flaps, you'll come across the instruction manual and the sticker sheet. First of all, you'd expect to have printed parts in an "exclusive" set (the price wasn't bad, but exclusives don't often have stickers). And secondly, my manual was severely bent, and I had to bend it backwards to prevent it from closing as I was building the set.
I wish TLG would find away to prevent this.
Out next are the bags. This set includes four large, two medium, and two small bags. They aren't numbered, but that's probably not necessary for a set this size. There's a nice amount of dark red and white pieces in here, not to mention some rarer pieces in these colors. You might notice, as you spill the bags out (not pictured), that a few parts are printed. More on those later.
One more thing that comes out of the box is this little cardboard package. Usually, these contain capes, but I don't remember any capes being in this set...
Ah! A rubber band! It's curious that this would be packaged in that cardboard box. I always remembered rubber bands being held with the plastic, Technic-like holder, so this is new to me. This rubber band will be a key piece in one of the functions later in building the set.
One of the smaller bags holds another small bag, the one with the dark bley clone accessories that we've seen in other sets such as the Republic Gunship. The bag includes two commando pistols, one shoulder pauldron, one kama, two flashlights that attach to the helmet, two antennae that attach to the helmet, and one visor that also attaches to the helmet. These accessories are nice, but I prefer my clones without them.
Minifigs
There's only two minifigs in this set: two clone troopers. The accessories can individualize them from each other, but otherwise they are nearly identical. However, there is one printing discrepancy. This has been noticed with clone heads in numerous CW sets, but if you look closely at your clones, you'll see that some of their eyes point left, others point right, and a few point to the middle. This strange occurrence is still a mystery today. Also, it would have been nice to have a main character or a Jedi in the set, considering it's a Limited Edition. These tanks appeared in the battle of Mygeeto, so why not throw in Ki-Adi Mundi?
You can equip one of the clones with the two commando pistols, but the set comes with two regular pistols with scopes as well.
The Build
I hope you weren't looking forward to seeing the build of the set too much- because I'm not going to show you. Nope, it's much more fun if you build the set and see the techniques for yourself. Reviews can't spoil everything.
The Finished Set
The overall set is actually better-looking in person than a picture might depict. The fins aren't as stubby as they look on the box, and there are very few studs showing, so the design is nice and smooth. Of course, there is more than meets the eye with this set, as you'll soon see.
The front view can prove to be very menacing to opposing droid forces. Perhaps the CIS Armored Assault Tank can stand up to this? Notice the "eyes", AKA windshield. I think The Lego Group designers got this one down just right, comparing to the Star Wars Battle Front games.
Looking at the rear of the tank, you'll see the back hatch from which troops load/ unload. Notice the greebles here. Yes, that light bley 2x2 circular vent piece is printed.
The side view mainly displays the fins, with stickers and all. I like the detail in the stickers here, but they're such a pain to apply since you can never really get them on straight. Also note the dual cannons on either side, the turret and hatch on top, and the antennae near the hatch that often fall off. The trans-neon green power cells on either fin show that the designers were really paying attention to detail.
Functions
This set may seem a little on the small side, but it actually boasts quite a few playability features as you're about to see below.
The first feature (of many) is the hinges that connect the fins to the body of the tank. You can only move the fins up and down about two clicks (on the hinges) from they're original positions (about 30 degrees down from straight).
Since each fin is identical, they both have a compartment like this, that opens with an angle piece. This might be where you want to store the clone accessories so they don't get lost.
This nice little armored part of the fin is neat by it self, but if you spin it over on it's Technic pins...
...the underside reveals a set of three flick-fire missiles! This is a very clever way to add weapons and a play function to the set. You won't get tired of flipping the armor back and forth for a while, and the best part is that it can spin without scraping the surface beneath it, or you lifting up the tank.
Here's another look at the front of the tank. You can get a glimpse of the windshield, which you can partly see through due to the trans-black pieces. But there's a hidden function here- can you spot it?
No? Well, neither did I until I actually built the set. There's this neat compartment in the front that is revealed by lifting up the front armor on an angle piece that you probably wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't built it yourself. It blends so smoothly with the rest of the tank, and is, again, making good use of the different sections of the tank. The compartment contains some trans-neon green 1x2 round bricks that act as the "power source" of the tank.
The turret and top hatch are also functions of the set. The turret can rotate a full 360 degrees on the spinning tile, and can move up and down by about 90 degrees on the angle piece, as shown:
If you look down into the hatch, you'll see a white chair, as well as a little bit of that rubber band. But what does this whole contraption do? Let's find out. Oh, and that control panel 2x2 tile is also printed.
Naturally, you can place a minifigure in the chair. Luckily for us, one of the clone troopers that came with the set has volunteered to demonstrate the following play function. Let's put him in, close the top hatch, and...
...open the back hatch! This causes the little light bley piece that you see on the inside of the back hatch to release the red Technic nut on the back of the chair, which in turn releases pressure on the rubber band attached to the chair. The chair shoots up into the air, and the clone troopers head opens the top hatch.
To demonstrate this chain of events better, I've included a video of Unit 1778 in the tank:
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This is a very clever way of adding yet another play function. I guarantee that you'll be tempted to try this out every time you look at the tank on your display shelf. However, as you saw in the video, the hatch sometimes doesn't open all the way when the clone pops up. And no, the top hatch does not open without a minifigure in the chair.
As you saw at the end of the video above, the large guns on either side can move up and down. They can also rotate, but I don't think rotating the pole pieces will make a difference in aiming, because they they same all around (as a round shape).
But wait, there's more to see in the cockpit! The top part with the turret lifts off for easier access to the cockpit. The top part is easily lifted off, but stays on well due to it being held on by only a few studs.
The cockpit consists of a pilot's chair, and printed control panels. You can also see how the rubber band is attached, and how the trans-black windshield looks from the inside. You may have a little trouble, but a third clone can fit behind the pilots chair standing up.
Finally, flipping the tank over, you can view the four wheels that allow you to roll the tank around on the floor. These are covered up when the tank is right-side up, so it appears that the tank is hovering when you push it, just like in the movies.
Before I wrap this review up, here are two videos which show some of the play features of the set in motion.
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In the second video, when I flicked the missile, that noise you afterward is the missile landing in my metal trash can.
So yes, these flick-fire missiles do go pretty far. Final Ratings:
Build: 9/10- The Republic Fighter Tank was extremely fun to build. You get to build all of the functions, and only the top antennae fall off. This is definitely worth taking some time to sit down and enjoy building this one.
Playability: 10/10- I gave this a full score for this section. There are your basic flick-fire missiles and rolling wheels, but there are so many more details and functions in this set that were unnecessary, but appreciated for this set. The designers went all out on cramming every little detail in.
Swooshability: 9/10- You can roll the tank around quite easily on a flat surface, or even short-haired carpets. As said before, the antennae almost always fall off, so this section doesn't quite get a full score.
Minifigs: 7/10- The two new clones are nice, and the commando gear is a welcome addition, but the set feels like it's missing something for being an exclusive item. A clone commander or a Jedi such as Ki-Adi Mundi would've made this set even better.
Design: 10/10- The RFT is extremely well-built. You'll have a hard time breaking this on accident. It's also canon accurate, and has plenty of cool features crammed in to it.
Price: 10/10- Considering the piece count (above 500) and that this is a limited addition item, the price is amazing. And remembering that the set in itself is great makes it completely worthy to spend 50 USD on. TLG could've marked this up to 70 USD or so, but they (generously) did not.
Pieces: 8/10- There's not a lot of special pieces in here, but you do get a good amount of uncommon dark red pieces and some useful white parts. This would not be a set to get for parts; it looks just fine on my display shelf.
Overall Score: 9/10
This is excellent set. It looks great, had tons of features crammed into it, and is sold at a great price. You'll have fun playing around with the tank, admiring it in your display, or enjoy adding it to your clone army. Either way, I highly recommend this set to any kind of fan of Lego Star Wars, it's a must have!
Thank you for checking out this review, please leave questions, comments, or concerns if you have any, and don't forget to vote!
Did you get some sort of special deal or something? 
