[REVIEW] 7868 Mace Windu's JSF Se

[KimT]

Set Number: 7868

Set Name: Mace Windu's Jedi Starfighter SE

Sub Theme: Clone Wars

Minifigs: Mace Windu, Tactical Droid, 2 Battle Droids & R8-B7 Astromech Droid

Parts: 313

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Repel the droid ambush with Jedi Master Mace Windu™!

Blast through the droid ambush with Mace Windu’s Jedi Starfighter™! With quad flick missiles and the reliable R8-B7 astromech droid to navigate and repair damage, Mace Windu’s Jedi Starfighter will be more than a match for the tactical droid TX-20 on his Separatist speeder. Also includes 2 battle droids on STAPs.

Includes 5 minifigures: Jedi Master Mace Windu, astromech droid R8-B7, all-new Tactical Droid TX-20 and 2 battle droids

Includes Separatist speeder and two STAPs

Open cockpit to play inside!

Launch the flick fire missiles!

Features retractable landing gear!

Mace Windu’s Jedi Starfighter measures 6” (15cm) wide, 10” (25cm) long and 3” (7cm) tall

Separatist speeder measures 1” wide (2cm) 5” long (12cm)

The Box:

Shows all the action = Flick fire missiles.

Plus the "NEW!"-sign that tells us of the new figs in this set.

A sign that TLG has added to all new sets that include new figs - which basically is every single set.

I guess it's some kind of sales trick that probably works well on most parents and kids.

The rear of the box shows some of the play-features.

The flippin' of the JSF's wings, the smartness of trans-clear parts to make the STAPs look like they ARE flying and the trigger for the flick missiles.

Plus we get a(nother) look at 7913, 7914 and 7929.

What's inside the box?:

At first it all looks like business as usual.

We've got 3 polybags - numbered for your smooth and easy build.

(How do you like my bedspread? )

And then we've got an instruction folder and a stickersheet with too many stickers in my opinion.

But that's the way it is - sometimes they print - sometimes they don't.

Let's not get into that usual rant which often leads to anger and hatred

Let's just keep in mind that TLG has a budget for each set and there's many factors that decide which colours we get, what gets printed and how many figs we get in a set... Mkay?

And then this happens?

A small polybag and it's not even included in one of the numbered ones.

What's going on?

It's no use going through the inventory in the instructions - it's not there.

I guess someone at TLG discovered that no blasters were in this set and that it wouldn't be much of a fight for Mace to slay unarmed Battle Droids.

So they quickly added blasters - only to discover that Battle Droids cannot wield blasters without a new arm and thus they added arms as well.

Not that I would have missed either - the Battle Droids are to ride their 2 STAPs so why give them a blaster as well?

Still extras are always good to have.

On to the build then:

Bag One hold the figs, the Separatist Speeder and 2 blue STAPs.

The Separatist Speeder is actually quite nice. I didn't add the stickers, but still it looks good.

The Tactical Droid looks a little goofy riding it though.

The STAPs are as we know them from earlier sets like 7675 AT-TE.

Blue and with a trans clear foot.

Bag Two holds the wingless JSF and is as most of the JSF a pretty straight forward build.

A side picture of the rear end of the JSF.

A not to be stickered tail and the technic axles you push when firing the Mace Windu Purple Flicks.

A better view of the flick mechanism.

It's just a plate and 2 1x4 bricks with technic holes.

It can easily be removed if you'd rather have the JSF without flick missiles.

Just removed the plate and bricks.

In fact the underside and side view might even improve if the flicky-mathingy wasn't there?

Bag Three holds the wings for the JSF and they really didn't take long to build either.

Indeed they are wings.

They clip on to the JSF and are almost identical, except for the Republic Insignia.

(and a shorter tile because of that)

The Figs:

Astromech:

Nice - really nice. This is one of the best astromechs around.

Who'd want a sunbleached white R2D2 when you can have one of these babies in your JSF?

It's even got golden printings

Somehow I managed to put the head on backwards :blush - sorry about that

Battle Droids:

The usual suspects. Same as they ever were.

Jedi Master Mace Windu:

he's looking good, but then again he looks good until the day he tries to arrest/kill Chancellor Palpatine at the brink of the rise of the Empire.

Tactical Droid TX-20:

Waaauw! Nice colour, nice prints and finally a design that's good.

Plus the plastic feels a little different from the old SBD's.

Hopefully that means the clip wont break on this one.

I'm still keeping mine disassembled just to be sure.

The Set:

The JSF from above. It sure looks pretty - a shame that they didn't print the wedge parts as I never (almost) add the stickers to regular sets.

Cockpit view - you have to remove the canopy to get inside and that's a downside when it comes to playability.

It wouldn't be that hard to add a hinge to open and close the cockpit, would it?

Still, it's one good looking Separatist Army Kicker that Mace's flying.

Shot just for awesomeness and to play with a little depth.

The rear part with large light gray wedges and a white flag turns me off a little.

Engines look good, flick buttons (1 per 2 missiles) are blending in - but the lightsabre holders are NOT.

What's the point?

Engineer: "Take the lightsabre apart and click it to the rear of your fighter Mr Windu!"

Windu: "Mkay, I'll try"

[woooshy sound and then cries of agony and pain]

Windu: "It wont come apart and now I have no hands!"

Engineer: "Sorry about that - we'll think of something else"

Sheesh! One thing is clicking the 2 parts in place - getting them off again without destroying the JSF is difficult for a guy with hands the size of mine.

All in all a fine set, but it's mostly interesting because of the Tactical Droid and the fact that they named it SE - "SPECIAL EDITION"

How can anyone resist that yellow label on the box?

[Legoman]

Cheers for the Review Kim. A shame you had to actully pay for this terrible set though. I honestly think this is one of the worst sets lego has ever released. And your good review only made my opinion a certainty

Thanks for the review none the less, but this set really does nothing for me, And would be a complete waste of time and money were I even to consider buying it.

Seems TLG must be getting pritty desperate if this is what they're coming up with for sets now

[prateek]

Thanks for the review. As I've said before, I don't want this to sell well so I can get one discounted.

As for the set, the vehicles are nice, but the Tactical droid looks really awkward

Edited December 29, 2010 by prateek

[KimT]

Thanks.

But for a collector like me there is no way I could resist refuse buying this set.

And what's a few more bucks spend in a year on LEGO anyways?

[simonjedi]

You can't build STAPS. (one of the things at the topis the wrong way around )

E: stuff I stupidly put in the academy:

It looks decent enough (Not a bad set, it's just we've seen almost everything in it separately in one form or another before) I'll probably pick it up though, i'm a sucker for jedi starfighters.

A group shot with all CW JSF's would be lovely

Edited December 29, 2010 by simonjedi

[Rufus]

Engineer: "Take the lightsabre apart and click it to the rear of your fighter Mr Windu!"

Windu: "Mkay, I'll try"

[woooshy sound and then cries of agony and pain]

Windu: "It wont come apart and now I have no hands!"

Engineer: "Sorry about that - we'll think of something else"

Hilarious!

More seriously, I think the Lego designers can't win with the eternal lightsaber storage problem. We complain when there's nowhere to store them, or when they rattle around in the cockpit; this seems a nice solution but I take your point about the accessibility for adult hands.

I actually like the variety in the starfighters. I could live without the flick-fires, and I'm not so keen on the latest landing gear (or the stickers), but I'll almost certainly shell out for this. I the new droid!

Bedspread notwithstanding, this is a lovely review Kim - you've really shown us round every aspect of the set.

[Legoman]

And what's a few more bucks spend in a year on LEGO anyways?

It's a few more bucks that could be spent on even better lego

[Brickdoctor]

Another first review!

This is a mediocre set for me. JSF design has gone downhill, and really, how many flick-fires do we need in a starfighter that isn't equipped with missiles? The speeder bike looks better than the last one, though, minus the fail new 'seat'.

[KimT]

You can't build STAPS. (one of the things at the topis the wrong way around )

Not to self - never let your 3 year old daughter play with your LEGO before taking pics.

Yeah I see - thanks for pointing out such a loud mistake.

And General Magma is already on me for putting the Astromech's head on backwards - that was me and not the daughter.

Plus I really don't care for STAPs anyway.

I'm OT all the way

[General Magma]

Thanks for the great review!

I've got mixed opinions on this set: the Tactical Droid looks nice, but the official STAP designs always seem a bit too big to me.

The starfighter itself seems alright, but I guess I should just wait for a discount, may I ever want to buy a copy. But not until I have bought all OT sets I want.

Oh, and uhh.. Nice bedspread.

~ General Magma

Edited December 29, 2010 by General Magma

[KimT]

Oh, and uhh.. Nice bedspread.

Thanks

Upon further review of my pics it seems the Separatist Speeder has been mingled by my daughter as well.

Dammit - this is the last time she plays with my LEGO.

At least until next time

[Walter Kovacs]

Thanks for the review, KimT. Like others have said before, this is merely a mediocre set. The new astromech is probably the highlight, with the Tactical Droid not far behind. And more STAPs are always welcome.

I for one like where the designers stashed the lightsaber and blade, though I'd prefer it to be left together. Those Lightsaber hilts tend to lose their grip after a while (or maybe it's the blades themselves). It's a muchbetter location than Plo Koon's JSF, where it sticks out right at the side of the cockpit.

I really, REALLY wish there were some laser cannons somewhere on the wings.

I honestly think this is one of the worst sets lego has ever released.

I suggest you look up the podracer bucket and Ultimate Lightsaber Duel. Those are terrible. This one is merely flawed. And a bit ugly.

[Penitent Tangent]

I actually quite like this set. The colour scheme of the starfighter itself is a little basic, but it seems more like what the Jedi should be flying. I mean, who's giving them the money/time to customise these things? But perhaps something matching his astromech would have made it a bit more interesting.

But I like the simplicity of these wedge starfighters and I think they look great all together (I'll take a picture of them all, when I get the set, if nobody else does first). And for the younger crowd, looking for something to play around with, I think these JSF sets offer a lot and that's probably why they've sold so well and we've seen so many variants.

[KimT]

I suggest you look up the podracer bucket and Ultimate Lightsaber Duel. Those are terrible. This one is merely flawed. And a bit ugly.

Eeeeew! You just had to mention those, didn't you?

[Churchill]

Thanks for the review, KimT. I think the JSF looks a little better that what I originally thought it would. Boy I hate that flag though. The astromech and the tactical droid are what I like best, and I keep going back and forth on this one, should I buy, shouldn't I? You've got me buying... for now.

[Brickdoctor]

Not to self - never let your 3 year old daughter play with your LEGO before taking pics.

Yeah I see - thanks for pointing out such a loud mistake.

And General Magma is already on me for putting the Astromech's head on backwards - that was me and not the daughter.

Plus I really don't care for STAPs anyway.

I'm OT all the way

I'll bet you could put together a 74-Z with utter perfection, right?

Me too. STAPs? Never knew them.

[XimenaPaulina]

Great review for a not-so-great set. Thanks for sharing anyway KimT! I may have a thing with JSFs, but this clearly is the worst version that TLG has ever released. Bland color scheme and the design seems to be going on the wrong direction IMO. I still don't get it why they have to extend the cockpit side parts by 1 stud just to make it more bulbous. The only saving grace for this set is the new astromech and the tactical droid, which I will purchase separately and pass on the complete set without any doubt whatsoever.

Nice floral bedsheet BTW.

[KimT]

What's up with you guys and my bedspread?

The wife picked it... Not that I dislike it or anything.

[Solscud007]

Great Review KimT. Can i get some more information on the R2D2 keychain with chrome head?

Whats that all about?

Whoops Never mind me. I didnt see that it is R4-P44. From the picture it looked like chrome in shadow.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Solscud007

[Churchill]

What's up with you guys and my bedspread?

The wife picked it... Not that I dislike it or anything.

Everyone should just lay off the bedspread. You can't expect Lego to put a new astromech, tactical droid AND bedspread in KimT's set!

[Brickdoctor]

Great Review KimT. Can i get some more information on the R2D2 keychain with chrome head?

Whats that all about?

He's using it for size comparison.

[sok117]

What's up with you guys and my bedspread?

The wife picked it... Not that I dislike it or anything.

speaking of which, mind doing a review of that awesome floral bed sheet? I simply must get your opinion on it!

But thanks for the review, the tactical droid seems a little to tall, and not as fat as he should be. I also think that your Mace is either mis-printed or there is a new print, because the one I got in the RAS the eyes are looking dead center, but yours are peering to the left , either way, I still think the fig is okay. But the ship is really bad, How well does the missile function work?

EDIT: I'm pretty sure there were no STAPs in the CTT

Edited December 29, 2010 by sok117

[Blackknight112]

Great review, but this set is just awful

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for the review 'KimT', for the fighter in general and the minifigs....oh, yeah and the speeder.

That blasted lightsaber holding system....WTF ?

Oh, well.....on shopping list.....may the brick be with you !

[Delta 38]

That was quick. Now, let's see...

The extra blasters are nice, though I'm not sure if they will be included in all boxes. Maybe it's the lighting, but the tactical droid looks much darker. I'm okay with that, I guess.

I'm glad that they added more detail, printed or not. The earlier versions looked too plain, but the stickers improve that.