75098 Assault on Hoth

[Hinckley]

Play nice! Don't make me turn this car around...

Alright, I finally got it! This is like the 3 1/2 stars (out of 5) reviews internet crybabies gave The Force Awakens DVD/Blu-ray on amazon.uk (for a product they don't even own yet)! Right?

"Worst SW movie ever"! - "Waste of an opportunity" - "Cash cow".

Sounds familiar.

Favorite: "Luke warm" - soooooo clever!

There got to be something to this QQ thing that I'm missing in my life. Maybe I could get the hang of it, too. Be part of the gang. Let's give it a try!

I ... really don't like the box! I might even hate it a little bit. It's nothing special, looks like its just taped shut on the sides. Seriously, for 250 bucks?? Feels so cheap.

You can do better, Lego! 0/5!

Someone didn't listen to my gentle warning...

[Kristof]

Riding the mainstream hype of negative reactions is popular nowdays, that's true. But so is going against mainstream, just for the purpose. And unlike most people to joint the mainstream thoughts, these counter acting individuals have no real arguments to back up their opinions. I'd be really (no irony) interested in hearing some reason why anyone think this is a good set (with all its aspects including price point) in geneal perspective (not just 'this is cool set because I like such sets and it's a must buy for me').

I am not happy when I complain about anything and I'm especially inconvenient about it in this particular case because I highly respect and admire the set designer. But there is no point in being lenient - LEGO exists because of the customers buying their products. It's for their own benefit to know that some product is less than Ideal. And really, I don't think there will be some big plot twist when this set get's unboxed and built - we pretty much know everything about it already and most of the complaints are absolutely valid.

All in all, I hope such type of set won't appear often and the best I can do to prevent that from my position is to publish my negative oppinion about it.

[ChiefPie]

Haha just watched the designer video and they said themselves it was all of the sets as one big set.

[Gremer]

I'd be really (no irony) interested in hearing some reason why anyone think this is a good set (with all its aspects including price point) in geneal perspective (not just 'this is cool set because I like such sets and it's a must buy for me').

Personally, I like it because I have no other Hoth sets and, even though this is an amalgamation of sets, it's still cheaper than buying all of the sets on ebay or bricklink.

Beyond those reasons, I think the blast door is very well designed and superior to the 2007 version, and the trench is the best version yet. The Ion Cannon isn't perfect, but it's recognizable and doesn't look too bad. I am kinda disappointed that a quarter of the shield generator is missing, but it looks good beyond that.

There are quite a few things I dislike though. The Wampa cave is extraneous, and should have been it's own set. The snowspeeder isn't necessary at all, especially with the other one (which I have) being less than 2 years old, the other snowspeeder never appeared in the movie, and the e-web is a massive downgrade of a pretty good design.

The price I think is fairy reasonable for what is in it, given the Wampa, tauntaun and all the new prints, and the PPP is pretty good.

[RetroInferno]

Personally, I like it because I have no other Hoth sets and, even though this is an amalgamation of sets, it's still cheaper than buying all of the sets on ebay or bricklink.

Beyond those reasons, I think the blast door is very well designed and superior to the 2007 version, and the trench is the best version yet. The Ion Cannon isn't perfect, but it's recognizable and doesn't look too bad. I am kinda disappointed that a quarter of the shield generator is missing, but it looks good beyond that.

There are quite a few things I dislike though. The Wampa cave is extraneous, and should have been it's own set. The snowspeeder isn't necessary at all, especially with the other one (which I have) being less than 2 years old, the other snowspeeder never appeared in the movie, and the e-web is a massive downgrade of a pretty good design.

The price I think is fairy reasonable for what is in it, given the Wampa, tauntaun and all the new prints, and the PPP is pretty good.

I don't own any of the older hoth sets either (except for 4483 ), and yes, aquiring the older sets via bricklink is more expensive now, but still, what we get it here is not bad; it's just un-inspired design wise and has a questionnable UCS tag on it. But IMo it's just the tip of the iceberg.

Ultimatly most of the criticism I heard ( and which is well deserved ) is going towards that price tag. The ratio of 10 cents per parts is not always an accurate way of determining if a set is worth it but myself and a lot of people are just looking at what's offered here and plainly wondering how 250 USD can be justified in that case.

I would consider getting it for 200-ish CAN but never for 300$ before taxes.

[greenalfonzo]

My criticism is that I wish they could have gotten the bacta tank in there, as that is a prett significant miss (along with Medic bot) from the previous set. Or at least another couple snowtroopers (and dare I suggest Vader?).

I also can't believe that they gave the astrodroid R3-A2 a smokey black dome! She should have the standard clear R3 dome! That totally screws up that figure!

Edited February 22, 2016 by greenalfonzo

[Pointblank]

Beyond those reasons, I think the blast door is very well designed and superior to the 2007 version,

I personally prefer the SNOT look of the blast doors of the 7666, although this verson is a lot wider (bigger).

The redeeming factor for this set is for AFOLS who have not had any previous HOTH sets before, although it is a fairly weak reason to be honest. I prefer if this set is a much improved version of all the previous versions, although it is looking on par with previous sets (to be kind). The K3PO is updated, although Tauntaun and Wampa are exactly the same, no bacta tank, no Leia. The good points are the ION cannon and the generators (although it is inaccurate). :)

[bjorn77]

All in all, I hope such type of set won't appear often and the best I can do to prevent that from my position is to publish my negative oppinion about it.

That, and also not buying the set.

[Kristof]

Personally, I like it because I have no other Hoth sets and, even though this is an amalgamation of sets, it's still cheaper than buying all of the sets on ebay or bricklink.

The price I think is fairy reasonable for what is in it, given the Wampa, tauntaun and all the new prints, and the PPP is pretty good.

Thank you for bringing up some reasonable feelings. I can understand your point, still I think it's minority approach. If you intended to buy retired sets on the aftermarket, then this really is a blessing for you. But from wide perspective, I don't think there would be many like you (even hundreds doesn't equal many regarding worldwide sales measure).

I may also like certain aspects of that set, the blast doors are quite nice and if it was part of classic $100 playset, I can imagine there would be zero complaint, But here again, nothing that would sit me donw and desire for it, like UCS sets usually do. The same goes for shield generator - c'mon, it's very nice but few bricks afterall. People have been MOCing similar things ever since these curved bricks came out.

Justifying the price from PPP point is a bit odd here. I think every set over $200 need to offer similar PPP anyway, along with some extra design/exclusivity/wowness value. How about some exclusive bricks? Except minifigs, I don't really see any. Thus I'm quite confident that you could buy most of these bricks on BL for much lower price.

The redeeming factor for this set is for AFOLS who have not had any previous HOTH sets before, although it is a fairly weak reason to be honest.

Exactly!

That, and also not buying the set.

Haha, well that's obvious. But in fact, I can pretty much imagine buying this on 50% discount ;) Although that is insecure to happen - I can imagine LEGO lowering the production load on this set with all this feedback so in the end, this may become pretty rare. But these are just uneducated guesses :D

[r5-j2]

this set mirrors the recent Classic Batcave set (http://www.eurobrick...50#entry2479873 ) in that it is basically collection of quite nice small sets stuffed into one box ,with an eye-watering price tag!..................eh thanks ,but no thanks Lego!.................p.s. can any one else see a pattern forming here?

Edited February 22, 2016 by r5-j2

[belkor]

I may also like certain aspects of that set, the blast doors are quite nice and if it was part of classic $100 playset, I can imagine there would be zero complaint, But here again, nothing that would sit me donw and desire for it, like UCS sets usually do. The same goes for shield generator - c'mon, it's very nice but few bricks afterall. People have been MOCing similar things ever since these curved bricks came out.

I really like the blast doors, so I'm currently putting the design into LDD (as best as I can from the photos) so I can bricklink my own version of it. Hopefully the talented AFOLs on here on EB could collaborate and design an interior for the base too.....

[Kristof]

p.s. can any one else see a pattern forming here?

Yep, that's exactly why this message to TLG is important - they tried something (collectorish-playset-like-heavy-pricetag-mishmash) and now they need to know it's not what we would really like :)

But I think it's more eye striking with this Hoth set. Batcave is quite solitare (thus unique) in terms of theme, minifigs and also the execution (at least I don't recall similarly looking set).

[Schneeds]

Yep, that's exactly why this message to TLG is important - they tried something (collectorish-playset-like-heavy-pricetag-mishmash) and now they need to know it's not what we would really like :)

But I think it's more eye striking with this Hoth set. Batcave is quite solitare (thus unique) in terms of theme, minifigs and also the execution (at least I don't recall similarly looking set).

I could definitely see them continuing with the formula of one big play set and one traditional model style set per year and putting them both under the UCS label. That's an easy way to protect and pad the sales of the traditional UCS set with AFOLs and gouge the Christmas shopping parents of the kids market.

[Kristof]

^Don't you think it's recession of the UCS trademark? Nothing against bigger playsets though - Death Star was also just massive playset, still it was clearly standing out. So was the Hellicarrier (which could in my opinion deserve the UCS label better than this). People call this Hoth mashup a superpack and I think that's justified comparison.

You mention Christmas shopping parents but do you really think they will be grabbing this set? I mean, even if I had to spend that budget for lego gifts for a child, I'd much rather grab several smaller sets (more boxes - check, more diversity - check, more exciting building experience - check). Plus I think that most of todays children would prefer some rebels/clone wars/new trilogy stuff anway.

Edited February 22, 2016 by krisandkris12

[lomis]

For those of us looking forward to the set: what are you most looking forward to?

• New figures / prints
  
• Tauntaun
  
• Wampa
  
• Blast doors / front of base
  
• Shield generator
  
• Ion cannon
  
• New build of non-Luke Snowspeeder
  
• Anything else...
  

For me - I've been looking forward to this for a long time and still have 75049: Snowspeeder and 75054: AT-AT waiting in their boxes to be built along side it.

I'm looking forward to seeing them together.

[Joschmidt33]

I have to cast myself with the lot of "no other Hoth sets" collectors but this still leaves some to be desired. No structure to the myriad elements, no Leia minifig, Wampa cave—I could go on.

It feels like something similar to the Ewok village, not a UCS set. However I will still be purchasing on day one haha.

[Gremer]

For those of us looking forward to the set: what are you most looking forward to?

• New figures / prints
  
• Tauntaun
  
• Wampa
  
• Blast doors / front of base
  
• Shield generator
  
• Ion cannon
  
• New build of non-Luke Snowspeeder
  
• Anything else...
  

For me - I've been looking forward to this for a long time and still have 75049: Snowspeeder and 75054: AT-AT waiting in their boxes to be built along side it.

I'm looking forward to seeing them together.

I'm really liking the blast doors and the trench.

[Devizz]

I've never bought any other Hoth sets except for the most recent wave one so I am already saving money buy this.

[MartinCliffe]

I have most of the Hoth sets except the earliest one with the previous set of blast doors. So I have a wampa, 3 taun-tauns, 2 snowspeeders, countless turrets... I really like the new Hoth Rebel minifigures, so I'm glad there are a varied selection here. I'm disappointed that there's a wampa cave because it's inferior to the last one, and I've not made my mind up about the snowspeeder yet. My Hoth build is 128x96 studs, so having a bit of extra trench isn't bad, and I really like the new blast doors from the front (although I think the back looks unfinished).

This set is a mixed bag. I don't hate it, but I'm underwhelmed (I wanted more snowtroopers, and really didn't need another non-canon white speeder bike or yet another design of e-web). If the Ewok Village and Death Star weren't labelled UCS, there's no way this one should be. I hate the over-use of the label UCS in this forum, but this set, while impressive in many ways, isn't a UCS set; it's a playset. It's still much better than the classic bat cave, but it could have been so much more. Still, I will be buying it, because it fits with what I am doing with Hoth, and it will be my first "UCS" set.

[1974]

For those of us looking forward to the set: what are you most looking forward to?

I'm mostly looking forward to selling a bunch of rare white baseplates, Bacta Luke and Hoth Leia in my BL shop

Cheers,

Ole

[Blondie-Wan]

I have reservations like everyone else here, but as I think about it, I'm not really sure why the inclusion of play features is s turnoff to so many. Most of the most significant play functions are just natural features of the designs anyway. Should the turrets be built solidly, without turntables, so they couldn't rotate? Would that really be an improvement? What about the main door - should it be fixed in places, rather than able to slide open? Few, if any, of the play features detract from the visuals in any meaningful way, I think.

My issues are a) the price (which honestly, I think might even be fair, but which is still a big hurdle for some of us), and b) the endless figure updates, which for me make it harder to combine this set with other, previous ones.

I guess the boob gun is the A(male)FOL part here?

Classy!

Would an AT-ST be welcome (even if they weren't in the theatrical version of ESB)?

AT-STs actually have appeared in all versions of the movie, including the original 1980 releases.

If any minifigure had to be switched out for Leia, I would've gone with either one of the Rebel Troopers or Han considering they're both already available in another Hoth themed set thats just recently been released.

Given how many people are complaining about it being called "Assault on Hoth" but having just two Imperials, I think it might have been better to just swap out the two of them, so that it's 100% Rebel (well, aside from the Wampa), and change the name accordingly to "Rebel Base" or "Echo Base" or some such thing. It would fit better with previous big location sets, anyway, like Cloud City (not "Betrayal at Bespin"), the Death Star (not "Station Drama") and the Ewok Village (not "Encounters on Endor").

If they swapped out the Snowtroopers and the Wampa (and its cave), they could have replaced them with Artoo, Threepio, Leia, Rieekan, Luke (in treatment), Too-Onebee, and the medical center. Alternately, they could have some of that, plus the Wampa (to fit with the material excised from the final film, but still perhaps canon, about Wampas at the base).

However, there's still the matter of people justifying their dislike with utter nonsense, like terribly missing an AT-ST. There are no AT-STs on Hoth, their brief appearance was only due to Lucas´ tinkering with an almost finished movie by keeping ILM on their toes, adding details.

Again with this. Where on Earth do people get this impression? AT-STs were always in the movie - only in literally just a couple shots, true, but still there.

I am VERY glad to see more substantial discussion.

Lego obviously made a risk: UCS is a premium trademark that justifies higher price (enabling LEGO to sell a larger set). Most of the income is coming from parents, not AFOLs. The set is VERY obviously targeted at parents - lots of play features, not overly complicated to build. In this way it makes sense to make it a rehash of previously made sets - R'n'D costs go down, lots of parents have never bought the sets and were caught by the Episode VII wave. Which I have no doubt had enormous influence by drawing new audience in - including a (ta-da) lot of parents. TLG might have known the AFOLs will not really by satisfied but taken that as an opportunity cost.

So there are two problems here: first, people on this forum are not intended audience and their opinions will not reflect the revenues / costs ratio very much.

Second, LEGO did something unfair. They used an established trade mark and changed its content without prior warning to make money. That's serious miscommunication and somewhat mistreatment of the AFOLs - and it's completely fine to communicate that. LEGO should care about the AFOLs - not because they would make a big part of revenues, but because of their fidelity and influence.

Alternately, it may well be that the significance of the "UCS" label and whether it's applied or not is being seriously overthought by some of us.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Blondie-Wan

[Jbricks]

I have reservations like everyone else here, but as I think about it, I'm not really sure why the inclusion of play features is s turnoff to so many. Most of the most significant play functions are just natural features of the designs anyway. Should the turrets be built solidly, without turntables, so they couldn't rotate? Would that really be an improvement? What about the main door - should it be fixed in places, rather than able to slide open? Few, if any, of the play features detract from the visuals in any meaningful way, I think.

I don't think anyone is meaning the turrets or door when they complain abut play features ruining the aesthetic. They mean stud shooters and spring loaded shooters.

[Raskolnikov]

For those of us looking forward to the set: what are you most looking forward to?

I'm looking forward to combining it with my other sets. I think I'm ideally situated for a Hoth setup once I get this. I have the Echo Base set, wampa cave, two AT-ATs, and a couple snowspeeders and small trench-based sets. What I need is a blast door, ion cannon, and shield generator -- and that's exactly what this has, along with a pile of somewhat generic rebel Hoth personnel (especially the mid-level staff officers -- others sets tend to have troopers and rebel heroes and not much in between). So this set is really going to fill in the gaps and complete my Hoth collection. I also readily modify sets and am not ever concerned with keeping things 100% complete according to the directions, so I really view this as an invitation to change both this set and my other Hoth sets to complete my ideal Hoth setup.

This also could be why I wasn't one of the ones who was terribly disappointed by this set. I mean, we saw this set in a video ages ago, and I've been preparing for it based on what I expected. So I only recently got my Echo Base, used, thinking that I'd need to add to the interior of whatever Lego did. They're always sparse with interiors. I also stocked up on AT-ATs and a pile of snowtroopers, since it never even crossed my mind that Lego would use 1100 pieces to include one in this set.

So yeah, I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to mod this and my other Hoth sets.

It may well be that the significance of the "UCS" label and whether it's applied or not is being seriously overthought by some of us.

Haha, you can say that again. Nothing makes me regret spending time reading eurobricks more than when the discussion turns to what is or is not a proper use of the UCS label.

[Blondie-Wan]

I don't think anyone is meaning the turrets or door when they complain abut play features ruining the aesthetic. They mean stud shooters and spring loaded shooters.

I thought it might be something like that, but they're so tiny, and frankly easily ignored. And they actually really fit in pretty well if one doesn't activate them.

[1974]

Alternately, it may well be that the significance of the "UCS" label and whether it's applied or not is being seriously overthought by some of us.