[REVIEW] 75139 Battle on Takodana

[Cody Startale]

My first review! I hope it'll cover all important parts you are looking for and will help you decide if this set is the right purchase for you! Also, all the information here is only based on my personal (in)experience. So maybe I will have a different judgement than you guys about prices and whatnot, keep that in mind. Also, please excuse the image quality – if something seems a little guerilla style, it's because they were taken in my living room at night, with the use of my room light and the camera flash.

And the last disclaimer: even though I am trying my best, English is not my mother tongue, so a few mistakes here and there are bound to happen. Feel free to correct me to help me learn, though – feedback is always being appreciated! :)

Name: 75139 Battle on Takodana

Theme: LEGO System / Licensed / Star Wars / Episode VII

Year: 2016

Pieces: 409

Minifigs: 5

Price: EUR 59,99

Box & Packaging

The box, the back and the upper side featuring the minifigs and a 1:1 scale Maz Kanata, the one everyone will be interested in since she's exclusive to this set. The boxart is, to me, a thing of beauty; if shows nice action scenes that are more or less directly taken from the movie and the back highlights some of the contents and the play features (we will get to those in more detail later). I really like how the build is embedded in the background scenery, it looks "very Takodana" to me indeed.

The bags and the instruction booklet, as well as the stickers. Nothing much to say here other than that all three bags have the same look and everything seems to be packed up nicely at this point.

Again, stickers and instructions. To my great relief, this set features only a total of not more than two stickers for the entire build! The instructions booklet features the same cover art as the box front.

The build

Just a random shot while building this thing. The first playfeature is already in place. When going through the instructions, I have wondered for years now why Lego does not improve things a little bit by highlighting the newly added stones in each single step of the instructions. Like, make the rest of the build about 20% transparent and the newly added bricks completely opaque. A small and easy change, but it would make building a lot easier, especially with the more busy steps that add multiple bricks at once.

The completed content of bag no. 1. We can already see things start to shape up, and two First Order stormtroopers are already armed and ready. One of them is no other than internet's most popular icon of loyalty right now – TR-8R (also known as FN-2199)!

Here you can see the first of the two stickers attached to the side of the door. I think it's a nice little sticker that may not have been completely necessary – one could have achieved this look by using a 2x1 flat brick as well – but since putting it there was no real hassle at all and the sticker does not stick out to the eye as much as it does on this photo, I think it's a suitable solution!

The completed build of bag no. 2. Now the minifigs are almost complete. Over the door, you can see the only piece of cloth of this set hanging, which I think is a great touch and adds a lot to the "authentic" look of the set; behind it, just over the doors, you can get a glimpse at the second sticker. I don't think it was all too necessary to have it there, but I guess a plain grey piece of wall would have been rather unexciting as well.

The completed build after bag no. 3! Hoorray! Now it looks just like on the box art.... minus the scenery around and the awesome action, but we'll get to that in a second. As you can see, the build of bag 3 is attached to the previous build and held in place using hinges, which allows for more flexible playability, I guess. I am a fan of modular builds and moving stuff all around, so this gets a thumb up from me.

Spare parts

The blaster on top actually belongs to FN-2199 and is not really spare, though. But the two extra lightsabers are always appreciated, of course! The dark grey color of Kylo Ren's saber is a new sight to me, personally.

Play features

Play features are a complicated thing, I guess. It's something that is basically necessary for all the kids out there (after all, they are the primary target audience, right? ... right??), but AFOLs will often be disappointed or even bothered by them because they don't add too much value for their purposes, and also sometimes get in the way of a clean and authentic design (75102 Poe's X-Wing, I'm looking at you!). I think it's kind of a mixed bag here, as well.

The tree

You push or pull a lever to make the tree fall down or re-erect it. It's not the worst idea and I can see kids playing with this a lot, sending dozens and dozens of poor stormtroopers to be squashed by this mighty log. I must also admit that it's kinda funny to use it, even though the execution could have been a little prettier. Also, the entire tree's design is not exactly a thing of beauty. I must say that only two pieces of leaves, well... leave a lot of leaves to be desired (sorry for the terrible pun). Also, since I only have green pieces of foliage in my possession, I would have LOVED for this set to come up with some more in this orange-ish brown hue, since they are not only excellent for Takodanian trees, but would also compliment any terrestrial autumn season perfectly!

However, strictly judging the play feature as such, it's okay. Nothing great, nothing stupid – it's nice and simple and it gets the job done. Though on the design part, it's hard to resist the urge to improve this tree right away.

The breaking wall

It works like this: there are two brick-built pieces of wall that are attached to the bottom of the wall with 2x2 flat bricks with a single stud on top (just like on top of these two wall pieces as well). You rotate a gearwheel in the back and make the technic arms push the wall pieces up and down the other side.

Now, as much as I am all for falling debris, I kind of dislike this specific play feature. Why? Mainly for two reasons: first, the gearwheel itself. Why could it not have been a simple switch you flick to send both pieces flying simultaneously? It would have been easier, faster and more accessible than the gearwheel and also allowed children to pack more punch into this feature by hitting the switch harder and make the wall literally explode. Also, due to the rotating mechanics, the two pieces will come down one after another and not at the same time, which is okay if the designers were going for asymmetry – a very realistic intention, since we are talking about a collapsing wall here. But then again, there is second: the wall pieces themselves, which are completely identical. They are built and look the same way and that's fine too, since they are meant to represent an intact, symmetrical wall (at first). But when they collapse, it's two of the very same pieces of wall coming down rather than more irregular, different shapes of debris. Bummer. But compared to the mechanical problems, I think this is more of a triviality in terms of play value.

The hidden chest

This is pretty simple: open the build, then you rotate the stick and the chest falls out, much like they did it with the storage compartment in 75099 Rey's Speeder. Why they have only a little stick protruding for the rotation and not attached a proper gearwheel here is beyond me, but it works just as fine. This play feature is nothing too exciting and the placement is a little random; you can argue that it is inside Maz's castle, which would be authentic (this is supposed to be the chest with the lightsaber, of course), but then again, there's the whole inside part of the castle completely absent from this set, which makes this choice a little bit random. But then again, this is the only set with Maz Kanata out there and her handing the lightsaber over to Rey is one of her key role's in the movie, so they had to have this in the set in one form or another, I suppose.

The doors

Very simple, very stable. They slide open and close running on guidances and work very well and smooth. Also, the doors, simple as they may be, look very true to the original design and very Star Wars-y to me. This feature is one that, unlike many others, does not distract from the aestethics of the set, but actually adds to the design and has real functionality. For no more specific reason, I somehow love these doors. It was when I attached them that I felt like: "Okay, now this set is beginning to be really fun". Maybe it's just that sliding the doors open and witnessing that little bit of interactivity sent me back to the movie again for a split second, anticipating what we would find behind those ominous doors to Maz Kanata's castle.

The only thing that could have made those doors better? Having some kind of mechanism that would allow you to slide both of them simultaneously open, because as of now, you open them independently from each other. But it is not a big deal, so even if you may find enough other weaknesses in this set, these fine little doors ain't one of them.

The breaking stairs

Now this is the kind of play feature where I get skeptical. It's supposed to be a breaking stairstep from the collapsing castle. You can see the back end of the mechanism protruding on the back of the set; push it forward to send a handful of small, black round 1x1 bricks flying all over the place. Yes, it's as inconvenient as it sounds – have your kid or your significant other do this with enough force on the table, and you will spend the rest of the day crawling around the living room looking for those li'l round bast*rds all over your floor. I can see kids having fun with this all day, until they are all out of pieces to send flying. To me, this feature adds little and takes a lot in terms of design, since it pretty much single-handedly ruins the stairs leading to the oh so neat doors. Even if the feature was not completely impractical, even the before-state of the step does not look like a complete stair at all. It's literally a pile of round little black pieces lying in a hole. It does not look nice and it makes moving the set around impractical, since those little pieces tend to fall out easily. I don't like this feature and while I see the entertainment value for kids, short-lived as it may be, I think it would have been better to think of a smarter solution or abandon this idea altogether.

Minifigs

Here they are, in their full glory! Except for the stormtroopers, I didn't own any of these before, so they are a real highlight of this set for me. I think the three main characters here – Kylo Ren, Finn and Maz Kanata – are spot-on and look amazing. A nice side effect of having Finn is that I now have a torso with Poe's jacket for my Poe Dameron in his pilot outfit (he's my favorite character from the new movie – I always loved the pilots ). I think Kylo Ren's facial expressions are excellent and his helmet, though maybe a little bit too big, looks gorgeous as well. The only thing I am missing about him is the printed head with his mask you can put a black hood on, like in the command shuttle set. And then of course, there's Maz.

Her minifig is excellent and spot-on, too. Her face/head really make her looks old and wrinkled and I really like the torso printing, I think it does the character a lot of justice. I think she is a great effort on TLG's side and well worth to have in your collection.

Finn and TR-8R settle it once and for all while Kylo and the other stormtrooper calmly watch :)

A memorable scene, recreated. Too bad there's no Rey minifig in this set, but I guess you can only expect so much minifig-goodness in one package

Summary & Scores

Overall, I think this set has it's share of ups and downs. The minifigs are excellent and it sure is nice that there's a lot of them. Kylo, Finn and Maz are all important characters in this location and if you, like me, skipped Kylo's command shuttle, this is a good opportunity to get the minifig. The build itself is a mixed bag for me: I really like the design and color scheme, and the play features, which this set has a lot of, are mostly nice and okay. But somehow, it still feels incomplete, especially considering a pretty high RRP of EUR 59,99 (around 65 USD!). I got mine with 5,- off because of my Lego VIP membership, AND I received a special bonus gift with my order, which makes up for it. But still, I cannot help but feel that the build is not entirely complete. It seems too similar to the recently released Carbon Freezing Chamber to me, which costs about half as much as this set. For more authenticity, they could have featured a second wall for the castle, at least.

To sum it up, this set is nice, yet a little overpriced in my opinion. Also, it leaves a lot to be desired and I cannot help that it would greatly benefit from the release of additonal sets, much like Jabba's palace back in the days. I really wanna see an updated cantina scene and the basement where Rey finds the lightsaber deserves a set of its own, in my opinion.

Minifigures: 9/10, there's not a lot left to be desired. Sure, they could have packed in another character or two, but this is still TLG we're talking about. Of course they're not gonna serve all the best stuff in one single set.

Design: 7/10, I feel like there was a LOT of potential there, but they have only tapped it so far. I love the overall design and the color scheme, but this set is more like an appetizer than a complete serving. Also, some play features don't help the design.

Playability: 8/10 , I see a lot of happy kids having their stormtroopers run in and out of Maz's castle, only to be slammed by falling trees, fall down breaking and brick-shooting stairs and having Kylo Ren force-burst the walls wide open. Even though not all play features excell at what they're doing, there's certainly a lot of them to keep the younger fans entertained for a while.

Value/Price: 6.5/10, which means that it is still within OK-range, but not too great. I think you can get more bang for your buck with some other sets, but then again, I got a discount and a bonus gift with mine, so I cannot complain personally.

Bonus shot

"Now that's a pilot!!"

The little Poe's X-Wing polybag was my bonus gift when ordering this set, and it fits the scene perfectly. I love it.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Poe Dameron

[CM4Sci]

Cool review. I have the set too.

But, I didn't get those new bags with the white strip, and I've purchased a LOT of new sets so far this year. Is this a region exclusive thing?

[RetroInferno]

I mostly agree with this review. except that the price for value for me is very, very low. And I also believe these bags are restricted to certain areas, I've never seen them either.

[The Kid]

But, I didn't get those new bags with the white strip, and I've purchased a LOT of new sets so far this year. Is this a region exclusive thing?

I've had a few of those littered in and amongst sets from 2015 at least, if not earlier. Sometimes all the bags in a set will be like that; sometimes, a few will have the white strip and a few will be the traditional design. I've no idea why, unfortunately...

[MartinCliffe]

Good review (and you certainly don't need to worry about your English!). Unfortunately this reinforces my decision not to buy this set. Expensive, not much in the way of unusual parts (I could probably build 90% of this with what I've got in spare parts) and lacking in substance for the sake of play features. I Bricklinked Maz and Kylo, and I'll only pick up the set if I can get it on real discount later in the year.

[belkor]

Great review, terrible set. It really needs repeating that the cost/value of this set is perhaps the worst of any in TLG's Star Wars line-up (unless you sell the Minifigs and "castle" separately on eBay that is).

I got this thinking I might build a scene from the Takodana battle using my FO Transporter, but it's so underwhelming I decided against it. What I will say is, I think TLG are by no means fools - my 6 year old boy was so excited by the castle and the falling tree that I just gave it straight to him (he did build most of it too). Now his favourite game is "Battle on Takonana" when it used to be "Battle of Hoth" (and my AT-ATs can finally get some well deserved R&R)

[Cody Startale]

Great review, terrible set. It really needs repeating that the cost/value of this set is perhaps the worst of any in TLG's Star Wars line-up (unless you sell the Minifigs and "castle" separately on eBay that is).

I got this thinking I might build a scene from the Takodana battle using my FO Transporter, but it's so underwhelming I decided against it. What I will say is, I think TLG are by no means fools - my 6 year old boy was so excited by the castle and the falling tree that I just gave it straight to him (he did build most of it too). Now his favourite game is "Battle on Takonana" when it used to be "Battle of Hoth" (and my AT-ATs can finally get some well deserved R&R)

See? That's why I find it so hard to fairly judge this set. For an AFOL, it really is not the best offering out there. But as a play set for children, it really packs a lot of stuff into the small build, I think. So it really is a mixed bag in that regard! But then again, it could have offered all these play features and probably more even if the set had been bigger and more authentic. It's really a missed opportunity and I think if we will get Episode VII sets revisited a few years from now, this one will be among them for sure. There's just a lot left that can be done with this scene!

Edited January 20, 2016 by Poe Dameron

[Davor]

First whan I saw the price I was thinking that I would skip it and just go for minifigs on bricklink.

Than I saw skyhigh prices for this minifigs on Bricklink......Kylo/Maz/Finn all super expencive on bricklink...even stormtroopers are too high priced...so whan you calculate all minifigs + essential gear for them + shipping = the same price like original overpriced set....And in the set you get 300+ bricks as well...so.....

After buying it here are my 2 cents:

Set is acctualy cool as a small display,playfunctions are nice, but nothing too impressive.

Minifigs are more than great.

There is a quiet nice selection of usefull bricks in the set like dark tan slopes, dark orange bricks..quiet usefull for mocs.

Not a bad set at all.

Edited January 20, 2016 by Davor

[Zoshi]

Great review! But I have to agree that this set is rather lacking for the price. When I saw the first pictures I thought it would be a $30-40 set… but $60 is asking too much. Like Davor, after seeing that I thought I would just get Kylo Ren separately because he's the only one I really need from this set… but of course he's selling for half the price of the set. Think I'll wait for it to go on sale… or maybe not… we'll see

[HawkLord]

Great review and very nice pics. I like the addition of the Poe starfighter polybag.

I agree that the set itself isn't too special and that overall this feels geared towards minifigures, but it is the cheapest way to get these characters currently. I'm sure that given the delay in the next movie it means more chances for Lego to include Finn and Kylo in future sets that may be cheaper, but I'm doubting we'll ever get Maz again for a TFA set. I would recommend anyone who wants more Stormtroopers and the Maz (and who likes forest elements) should get this.

[plethorabricks]

Thanks for the review, Poe. But I'm still upset that you became so popular that you're part of the reason the next movie is delayed! :P Oh well, I'll get over it. :)

Built and in person, this set is pretty good. You just have to accept that this is one of those sets that, like most set-piece style Lego sets, swallows up quite a few pieces just to assemble even a small area.

The minifigs are a huge draw, particularly if you are not so thrilled with Kylo Ren's shuttle but still want a Kylo Ren minifig, and/or if you're not quite ready to own the TFA Falcon yet - this set + Rey's Speeder set will save you some money.