Review: 75100 First Order Snowspeeder

[MrLee]

75100 First Order Snowspeeder™ Review

By Michael Lee

Set No: 75100

Pieces: 444

Ages: 8-14

£39.99/$39.99

Drive back the enemy with the First Order Snowspeeder featuring three-man crew, storage, stud shooter, rapid-fire shooters, hidden wheels and more.

Introduction

This was most definitely one of those ‘might as well’ purchases. I actually went out with the intention to buy Kylo Ren’s shuttle.

I did get the shuttle, but somehow this had snuck into my basket at the same time. Now the question is: decent Star Wars set or just another grey parts pack destined for the parts bin?

Packing 444 pieces with 3 minifigures, this is the second cheapest (and I do use that in the loosest sense of the word) system set of the wave.

The Box

As I have previously discussed in my previous review of 75103: First Order Transport, I really like the boxes of the TFA merchandise.

What’s inside?

4 Numbered bags, each containing one stage of the build, with the minifigures distributed across all the bags.

The single instruction book is 88 pages, and the sticker sheet is neatly packed with it.

The Build

Bag 1 contains the frame of the speeder, and the Snowtrooper Officer.

There are 2 stickered pieces on each side of the craft.

The build after bag 1.

The build is pretty straightforward. The angular shape is achieved by using hinges, which are not uncommon for a Star Wars set. The 8808 Arc-170 utilises this exact same technique on its nose. There are several SNOT pieces used which will later be used to hold the panelling on the outside of the craft in bag 2.

Bag 2 uses the majority of the stickers, with 6 pieces requiring them:

These parts provide some detail on the fairings.

The rest of bag 2 is focussed on the underside of the speeder, starting with the preparation for the lower framework.

The next part is a technic frame to house the wheels underneath. The instructions are very good here providing some 1:1 scale diagrams to place the technic washers. The frame fits snuggly underneath.

The build after bag 2:

Bag 3 contains the two other Snowtroopers and the left and right engine/studshooter components.

The engines go together neatly, and the stud shooters are not jarring, but more on these later.

The build after bag 3:

The fourth and final bag cover all of the details within the speeder, and the inclusion of some extra play features.

The vehicles control panel is a printed piece which crops up quite often in Star Wars sets.

You get a huge handful of studs for the studshooters in this set, and the extras can be stored in these containers:

My only gripe with this stage of the build was a fiddly part. It involved fitting a technic piece into this gap:

I feel like this step would have been easier if it was done before you build the hull of the speeder as I found it a bit tricky to install this part.

And the finished model:

Final build and play features

Let’s take a look at the build and its play features, I’ll start at the front of the craft

The front gun is on a 2 point pivot, so can be pointed up or down. The stud shooter rests on top of the cannon. There is enough room for a minifig to stand behind it and hold the handle of the gun, although this prevents an awful lot of motion.

The rear of the vehicle seats 2 figures, one pilot and one passenger. There is a control panel for the pilot on the left hand side of the speeder. The figures sit comfortable in the seats of the craft.

The 6-stud shooters are quite polarising but they are integrated nicely into this model. The source material show that these are engines, so Lego took some creative license by including the stud shooters here. Activate the shooting mechanism by rotating the rear part of the engine. Very easy to operate, even when swooshing. Good luck find all of those studs in the carpet though!

TLG have been generous with stud ammo in this set. Each container stores 4 studs that can easy be taken out when needed. There are clips to hold the minifigure blasters which is a very common play feature across all Star Wars models.

One feature common to the First Order Transport is the presence of wheels on the underside. This is one play feature which I hope is to stay. I really like this inclusion because it makes the set so much easier to roll along a surface. It also gives a nice ‘floating’ illusion for the craft. The framework underneath also means it is very easy to grip and swoosh so I am very happy with the design here.

Minifigures

This set includes 3 almost identical minifigures. 1 Snowtrooper Officer and 2 Snowtroopers. I have already expressed my like of the new First Order troop designs, and the Snowtroopers have been translated fantastically well to minifigure form.

Crisp torso and leg printing, they use a soft goods kama that wrap around the torso, exactly the same as previous Snowtroopers and the 212^th Airborne troops. Continuing the trend, they have ‘clone heads’ under their nice well moulded helmets.

The officer’s blaster is slightly different, combining a blaster pistol with a white lightsaber hilt piece. The officer also comes with a red pauldron which is correct to the source material. They are slightly different to the pauldrons used on the Sandtroopers in ANH.

On the rear, they have back printing, and a printed tile backpack.

Comparison with the Stormtrooper and Flametrooper:

Value for Money

I will repeat the line I used at the start here, as it best sums up my opinion on this set: second cheapest (and I do use that in the loosest sense of the word) system set of the wav.

On paper, this only weighs in at about 9p a piece, but so many of those pieces are tiny parts. The studs for the shooter alone accounts for over 20 of those pieces.

Forty odd quid for this set is hefty. Yes, there are some good parts here, but definitely none that don’t already appear in a hundred other sets. This is an army builder set, one that you can easily have multiples of. I would much rather see this at maybe a price point of 35 at most.

The minifigs are nice, but certainly not anything special. No named characters here either. And after Rey’s speeder this is the most ‘affordable’ which is quite a jump. I would not have been able to afford this with pocket money, an optimistic birthday or Christmas present at best.

Final Thoughts

So, nice set or a grey parts pack?

Honestly, I enjoyed this set much more than expecting, and it is a nice way to bolster my First Order ranks. Having said that, I don’t think I can recommend this as a ‘must buy’.

The play features are there, and it is an extremely robust, swooshable model. I just can’t get away from the price of this one.

Also compared to Hasbro’s version (The only other medium we have seen this vehicle) it does seem over scaled. The engines are huge compared to this as well. Having said that, Hasbro have a tendency to under scale, so I’m sure all will be revealed in December.

I love the figures, and I’ll definitely be displaying this proudly, but it is quite skippable. I like the wheels underneath and it is quite enjoyable to swoosh.

If you can pick this up at a discount – I’d say don’t hesitate. Otherwise, perhaps your money is better spent elsewhere.

I will be modifying this one for sure.

Thanks for reading.

Edited October 4, 2015 by MrLee

[Lobot]

Thanks for another great review, MrLee

I'm really not sure what to make of this model, or even the concept really. Considering that it's a Snowspeeder, you've got to wonder why the troops aren't kept nice and warm in a fully enclosed hull? The wind-chill has got to be really something, especially if it's moving at speed! Anyway, apart from that, I don't think that I'll be investing in this unless it's available at a significant discount, the RRP is genuinely ridiculous

[Tariq j]

Excellent review, the problem here isn't the set, its the price. Definitely a sale item for me.

[MrLee]

I think the issue with the design of this vehicle is partly because they called it a snowspeeder, which invokes images of the Rebel air speeders we all know and love. This vehicle seems like it will be a skimmer like a speeder bike to me, but I could be wrong.

[TheWorldAhead]

I think the issue with the design of this vehicle is partly because they called it a snowspeeder, which invokes images of the Rebel air speeders we all know and love. This vehicle seems like it will be a skimmer like a speeder bike to me, but I could be wrong.

Agreed. I think that's why I was so disappointed with this set when I bought it two days ago. I thought I would love it, but...there's no sense that it's a snow vehicle once you assemble it. I could MOC some terrain, I suppose, but I hope it will help when I see the movie in December. Thanks for the review, Mr. Lee!

[YellowCorvette]

Thanks for the review!

Althrough this set don't appear on many fans, but this is my third favorite TFA set this year(Just following FO Transporter and Rey's speeder) because of the unique design and the minifigures.

[belkor]

Thanks for the review and photos.

This is probably my favourite FO LEGO design from the wave. It's the most pleasing to the eye (although it is oversized) and gets all of it's features out there in the open rather than hidden from view. Great for display, and very accessible for kids.

[LegendaryArticuno]

This more of a critique on Force Awaken designs in general... but an open hatch snowspeeder is pretty silly for use on ice planets with extreme weather conditions. Almost as illogical as making a Tie Fighter seat two pilots (double the amount of pilot casualties).

[Redbeards_Rum]

If one can only one buy, would you say go for this or save for the Transporter?

[lomis]

If one can only one buy, would you say go for this or save for the Transporter?

Personally, I would recommend the Transporter as it's a truly fantastic set with fun play features and a great combination of figures.

[Redbeards_Rum]

Thank you, done deal. Everyone I've spoken to has good things to say about the transporter

[Missing Brick]

Nice review. One thought: I wish TLG made a bit more effort to dress the underside of their flying vehicles. I can understand not bothering with the underside of a car or truck - but flying / hovering ships would benefit from just a little effort to disguise some of the anti-studs and holes. TLG's attitude seems to be : "If you can't see it on the box cover art, we don't care how it looks". On the plus side it does give modders something to work on.