REVIEW: 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter

[WhiteFang]

Hello everyone,

It has been real exciting for me after watching the recent LEGO Star Wars Rogue One movie during the movie premiere and it has never been so enjoyable. Thereafter, I just got to pick all of the latest 2016 LEGO Star Wars Rogue One sets with good sales offering to continue building my latest reviewing adventure. I will do my best not to put any major movie spoilers but if you have not watched this movie at all, I would not encourage you to continue reading this review as I fear there might be minor spoilers ahead. In addition, I am also integrating many supporting references and facts which can be found in the informative DK Star Wars Rogue One (Ultimate Visual Guide). I got to said, that I love this movie so much and this is the first time I actually bought a movie reference book just to satisfy many curiosities of mine from this movie. Without further ado, let me bring forth the first and my favourite LEGO Star Wars Rebel U-wing Fighter in this series. 

Movie spoilers ahead (potential), read at your own risk.  

Name: 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter
Theme: LEGO System / Licensed / Star Wars / Rogue One
Year: 2016
Pieces: 659
Minifigs: 5
Price: USD $79.99, GBP 69.99, EURO 79.99, SGD $149.90
Resources: Brickset, BrickLink

An original box image of the 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter



Back view of the original box image of the 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter


The latest new LEGO Star Wars Rogue One minifigures addition

 

A rebellion built on hope


In a galaxy far far away, I will be bringing you my favourite set from the new Star Wars movie spin-off, Rogue One. The newly designed Rebel U-wing Fighter or also known as U-wing Gunship which is used by the Rebel Alliance. There are not many troop lifting spacecraft being made available in the Star Wars universe and most of the time, we are seeing many space-to-space combat type such as the iconic A-Wing, B-Wing, X-Wing and Y-Wing. I welcome the new addition of troop transport spacecraft like this U-wing and it kind of remind me of the older Republic Gunship designs from the Clone Wars where it carries troops into combat. I believe this is also one of the first concept design of rebel troop lift and I don't really recall seeing any of such similar concept being used by the Rebel Alliance. I am very fond of troop lift concept as it help to increase playability for battle scenes recreation. This new spacecraft is specially designed for the Rogue One movie and it is easily one of the iconic spacecraft being seen in the movie scene like the Battle of Scarif, flown to distant planets like Jedha and Eadu lead by Jyn Erso and Captain Cassian Andor. 

The Rebel U-wing Fighter is a sturdy and rugged troop transport. It is a well-armed swing-wing vessel that can penetrate suppressing fire towards hot landing zones, dropping soldiers onto battlefield and then continue flying and providing air support for their risky missions against the Empire. The Rebel U-wing Fighter fills a support role that many Rebel starfighters simply could not fufill such mission requirements. 

The content of the sealed box


The sealed box comes with five numbered mint packs and are numbered from one to five. The instruction manual including the dreaded sticker sheet  is packed in a sealed plastic with nil cardboard backing which may lead the manual turning into slightly crumpled state. I liked this page of the instruction manual which showcase the new minifigures design in Rogue One. After the set has been built, these are the remaining spare parts which are spread across the packs. You can view the spare parts for packet 1 including an orange brick separator, packet 2, packet 3, packet 4 and packet 5.  
 

The incredible amazing new LEGO Rogue One Rebel minifigures

Let's examine at these minifigures from this second biggest Star Wars Rogue One set which contain all of the good guys from the Rebel Alliance. From left to right, we have Jyn Erso, Rebel Trooper, Rebel U-wing Pilot, Bastan and Cassian Andor. I am very impressed with the five minifigures with their unique designs and personalities from the Rebel Alliance. Upon removing their helmets and hairpieces, you can see back view of the minifigures with their alternate facial expression. The minifigures' torso designs are excellent and beautiful. I love their torso designs very much due to its refreshing looks. All of the five minifigures are featured with detailed back printing including Jyn Erso upon the removal of her cold weather survival gear front view and back view. Her rebel outfit can also modify further into other generic rebel in case you got multiple U-wing Fighters. All of these minifiures are unique to this set and if you wish to get the main characters, this set is very good to begin with.
 

Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso

Captain Cassian Jeron Andor is an accomplished Rebel Alliance Intelligence Officer with extensive undercover and combat field experience. Cassian Andor is is a disciplined operative and will follow his orders strictly including Black Operations with a deep respect for the chain of command and carrying out without any questioning. He is able to keep a cool head and complete his mission with minimum resources. He is heavily relies on covert operations to stymie Imperial Operations. These strikes are discreet and targeted. Acts of sabotage, espionage and assassinations are some of his top hidden missions. 

Jyn Erso is the daughter of Galen and Lyra Erso. Hunted by the Empire, Jyn survived and eventually rescued and saved by Saw Gerrera and was made to serve with him and his roving rebels. She committed numerous crimes against the Empire including aggravated assault against imperial personnel and possession of unsanctioned weapons, etc. She was rescued by the Rebel Alliance during her imprisonment and was subsequently persuaded to assist the Rebel Alliance. 
 

Rebel Trooper, U-Wing Pilot and Bistan

Rebel Troopers are entrusted with defence and missions vital to Alliance High Command. They are handpicked best of the Rebel ground soldiers to form the Special Forces (SpecForces). Of these elite infantry, the Pathfinders stand apart as some of the most hardened, brave and exceptional soldiers in the Rebellion. On Scarif, they are tasked with covert infiltration into enemy territory establishing a beachhead and holding ground until the arrival of the main military force. 

Rebel U-wing Pilot belong to General Merrick's personal command, Blue Squadron. It is an expanded unit with a mix of X-Wings assigned to escort U-Wing Fighters into combat zones, and a small number of Y-Wings. The full mobilisation was seen in the battle of Scarif to assist Rogue One operations. One particular interest, which I note is the choice and design of this Rebel U-wing Pilot. I found out that the rebel pilot helmet of this design resembled very closely to 'Gold Nine', Wona Goban. It does not really resemble any Blue Leaders or Pilots. 

Corporal Bistan belong to an uncommon species of Iakaru. He fight ferociously and proven himself to be a nutcracker against the Empire through sheer guts and accuracy under fire. Bistan specialised in maintaining directed cover fire from the main entry hatch of a U-wing Fighter during flight and landing operations. He pours out streams of deadly anti-personnel fire support with his overpowered repeating blaster, to protect troopers racing in or out of the U-wing Fighter. 

The entire building content for Packet 1



The completed built for Packet 1

The completed built for the first packet is to form the base of the Rebel U-wing structure through a mixture of technic and brick parts with a strong foundation. This packet also include Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor minifigures. 

The entire building content for Packet 2

 

The completed built for Packet 2

The completed built of packet 2 is focused mainly on the two S-foils wings which are attached at both sides. 

The entire building content for Packet 3

 

The completed built for Packet 3

The third packet focus on the cargo and troop holding area at the bottom. This packet also include the minifigure of Rebel Trooper and Bistan. 
 

The entire building content for Packet 4

 

The completed built for Packet 4

The fourth packet focus the built of the cockpit surrounding area and this also include the last minifigure, Rebel U-wing Pilot. 
 

The entire building content for Packet 5

The completed built of the Rebel U-wing Fighter

This is the completed built for the Rebel U-wing Fighter with mixture of white and blue at the top and gray to form the hull below. This spacecraft measures over 10cm high, 44cm long and 20cm wide with wings closed, and over 38cm and 64cm wide with wings open. It is highly swooshable and fun to play and swoosh without any bricks falling apart. Very good overall interlocking mechanism for this entire set. There are several playing mechanism including the shooting missiles playing feature which can be seen clearly through this close up shot and the missiles are activated by the 2x2 blue brick mechanism. The other playing feature is the opening of the cockpit. It can be achieved by pushing the 1x1 gray round stud forward and the cockpit will open. It can be quite challenging to open by the finger since is quite aligned to the surface. You can take a closer look at the pilot controls which is quite far away from his hands though. Taking another closer look forward, you can see the pilot looking downwards through a ventral cockpit viewport. Unlike most starfighters, the U-wing suppose to have a two-seater cockpit with tandem controls. A single pilot can still operate the craft, but a flight team of two can better handle landing zone fire suppression and defence. 

The next playing mechanism is the door opening mechanism which can be seen clearly through this close up shot. It can place a gunner on either side or both of the positions but it is pretty packed to squeeze more than three minifigures in there. It can be pretty fun seeing it taking off with a gunner providing covering fire. The specification for the U-wing is supposed to carry two pilots and eight troopers. Shifting to the end of the spacecraft, you can open into the cargo hold which is above the repulsor block cooling fins. The last fun S-foils combat activation which can be pulled and click onto the locking mechanism to achieve the complete S-foils configuration for hyperspace and combat fighting. You can also take a closer look at the Incom 41.7 fusial thrust engine which is quite detailed. 

These are the images of the Rebel U-wing Fighter which can be viewed from the front, side view, back view and bottom view.

Front view of U-wing transformed with its S-foils combat flight configuration

Though not built for ship-to-ship dogfights, the Rebel U-wing Fighter does have a combat-ready flight configuration. Its S-foils, usually stowed in a forward sweep, swing outward and back, increasing the ship's wingspan. The foils help radiate excess heat from the engine cores and also increase the coverage envelope of the ship's deflector shields. Atmospheric conditions may make wing deployment difficult, so this configuration is usually reserved for high altitude or interstellar operations. 

The Rebel U-wing Fighter met the primary importance of versatility for the Rebel Alliance. It emerges as an ideal vehicle for troop transport, gunship, medical evacuation lifter, courier ship and shuttle are all roles the craft has been asked to play. Although they are equipped with hyper drive, U-wings are not recommended extended long-range operations. Crew life-support requirements would greatly increase fuel demands beyond efficiency. Typically, U-wings drop off and extract soldiers, and when not in use tend to stay out of sight in order to preserve fuel. 

Senator Mon Mothma, we are ready for the mission

 

Ready to load up

 

Charging forward

 

I will crush the rebellion

 

Move and spread out

To conclude, this set is an above average LEGO Rogue One set. I had actually played with it and swoosh it around and simulate troop transport in hot landing zones and on top of that, I actually got more than one of these sets. Real awesome to have a good decent rebel troops transport and the movie positive experience simply add and increase the excitement and love for the U-wing. There is some flaw which I dislike, largely attributed to the small transport area. Other than that, this is quite a very good set to begin with. I am not going to complain about any inaccurate colour scheme. I am happy with what it is, even though a little more blue could help to increase the appeal. 

Summary review
Playability: 10/10 (Absolute fun to form your own battle scenes with highly swooshable fun. I rarely give a full score on playability.)
Design: 8/10 (Good design, but I wish it can have a larger transport bay to place more than three minifigures.)
Price: 7/10 (Price seems quite reasonable and is priced at somewhere higher mid-tier, but now I know Singapore SRP is on the high side which is very disappointing.)
Overall: 8.3/10 (Do absolute get this set and immerse yourself with endless fun and joy like I do.)

I gave it a "4" based on my Review Score Card.  What about you?

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are welcomed.
Pictures can be found in My Flickr.

[WhiteFang]

Dear Eurobricks Community, 

Merry Christmas in advance! It is Christmas pretty soon, over in Singapore and instead of partying and celebrating, I was actually working on this review. I enjoyed the Star Wars Rogue One movie very much and to show my love and enjoyment for the movie and the LEGO set, I proudly bring you my Rebel U-wing Fighter review. I hope I am able to share more of the new sets which I have bought recently and I sincerely hope you enjoyed this reviewing coverage. 

This review is complete and ready for public viewing. 

WhiteFang

[Ellisss_2]

Great detailed review. You haven't missed a single thing in my opinion!

Merry Christmas 

[darththeling]

Awesome, I love photo reviews and I've been thinking about this set a lot since Rogue One.

Cheers WhiteFang and Merry Christmas.

[Eskimo Blue Joe]

Darnit, ninja'd.

Just got done taking pictures for a review of the same set and then you come along and post a much better one 

[WhiteFang]

Thanks guys! I enjoyed this set very much and Merry Christmas. 

@Eskimo Blue Joe Do go ahead and share your review with us once is done. It's ok to have multiple reviews in Eurobricks. 

[CaptainJackBrickster]

I must say, nice review! But I don't like the look of this ship at all. It is too flat in the front section, while it is too blocky in the back. But that is just my opinion on it.

[VaderFan2187]

3 hours ago, CaptainJackBrickster said:

I must say, nice review! But I don't like the look of this ship at all. It is too flat in the front section, while it is too blocky in the back. But that is just my opinion on it.

Hehe, I call it "sleek" at the front and "functional" at the back (given that it IS a troop transport)

[belkor]

On 02/01/2017 at 4:24 PM, CaptainJackBrickster said:

I must say, nice review! But I don't like the look of this ship at all. It is too flat in the front section, while it is too blocky in the back. But that is just my opinion on it.

Do you mean the lego version specifically? 

Great review by the way - nice to get the extra info regarding the ship in universe.

[Fenghuang0296]

How many minifigures can you fit into the troop carrier section?

[Wurger49]

3 hours ago, Feng-huang0296 said:

How many minifigures can you fit into the troop carrier section?

I can't fit more than 4 inside after taking out the blasters. With the rotating blaster inside, only 2 minifigures. 

[WhiteFang]

On 8/17/2019 at 1:57 PM, Feng-huang0296 said:

How many minifigures can you fit into the troop carrier section?

I will recommend at most 3 minifigures. Below is the excerpt of my review: 

The next playing mechanism is the door opening mechanism which can be seen clearly through this close up shot. It can place a gunner on either side or both of the positions but it is pretty packed to squeeze more than three minifigures in there.

[hagridshut]

On 8/17/2019 at 1:57 AM, Feng-huang0296 said:

How many minifigures can you fit into the troop carrier section?

I am able to squeeze 4 minifigures with weapons into the troop carrier section, but this requires a slight modification.  The two Part: 2432, Tile, Modified 1 x 2 with Handle  which form seatbacks, need to either be moved to the center of the section and turned 90 degrees, or taken out of the section entirely (depending on equipment minifigs are wearing).  I had to experiment a bit to get it to work.