[REVIEW] 75364 New Republic E-Wing vs Shin Hati's Starfighter

[MKJoshA]

INTRODUCTION
Star Wars is known for being home to many grayscale ships. So when you see this set next to all the other gray Star Wars sets it really pops. But is color enough to sell a set? Yes. Yes it is. But we get so much more than that with this two-for-one ship kit.

I'm going to preface this review by saying I'm a huge fan of the EU. And while I enjoyed the Ahsoka show it wasn't my favorite. But when I saw the Ahsoka trailers showing off the E-Wing (an EU staple) and dark Jedi who weren't Sith (another EU staple) I was pretty excited to see them in Lego form. Since the show ended awhile ago I'm also going to have spoilers for the show in the review.

SET INFORMATION
Number: 75364
Title: New Republic E-Wing vs Shin Hati's Starfighter
Theme: Star Wars
Released: 2023
Part Count: 1056
Box Dimensions: 54 x 28.2 x 5.9 cm
Weight: 1426g
Set Price (RRP): £94.99/$109.99/€104.99
Price per Part: 9.0p/10.4c/9.9c
Links: Brickset, Bricklink

THE BOX
On the front we get a dynamic battle scene between the two ships, a battle which never happened in the show. This bugs some people but not me. The ships were in the show. Lego put them both in one set. It just works for me. I know some have compared this to the Fang Fighter vs Interceptor set we got for Mando season 3. But that set had two grayscale ships. And most people just wanted the Interceptor to build a fleet. This set doesn't suffer from either of those issues. It's likely the E-Wing is more mass-able, but Shin's fighter is also great for generic pirate fleets and has useful colors for building other Star Wars MOCs.

The back shows another scene that never took place in the show. But it does a good job of showing off play features.

CONTENTS OF THE BOX
Inside are 10 bags, the instructions and a small sticker sheet.

I'm really glad the canopies are both printed. But I wish some of the other parts were printed too. Stickers just don't last long enough.

THE BUILD
I'll start with the E-Wing. Having built an E-Wing MOC years ago I was interested to know how Lego would handle the shaping and dimensions. Because of the way the wings hang so low the nose sits pretty high off the ground. So it's hard to get it to look natural. But Lego did a great job!

The angles all match up so nicely. Here's a behind the scenes view.

And the underside shows the Technic used to get the wings and landing gear just right.

And the pilot's seat comes out revealing a good sized storage area.

But what about Shin's ship?

Fantastic colors, fantastic shaping, and a style that screams "P51 Mustang" make this ship really stand out. With no landing gear it doesn't sit as high as the E-Wing so you'll need to build a custom stand if you want to display these together. But since the ships never meet in the show maybe that won't be an issue for you.

This ships also has a lot of storage including a hidden compartment not even shown on the box!

And if you really wanted you could smuggle a person inside the first compartment.

The rounded nose section is built using tri-technic pieces.

It works with great effect. Though there are some gaps between the nose and the wings that can be a little unsightly at certain angles. But most of the time you hardly notice the gaps.

There are a few notable parts included in the set including a brand new slope piece I had never seen before.

I'm no New Elementary contributor, but I thought I'd show some of the similarities and differences with this piece. At 6 studs long it's got a lower profile than the new wedge slope introduced for Speed Champions as well as the standard 1x4 slope.

But turns out it's the same length as the large 6x8 roof piece.

But what about the figures?

In my opinion these looks great. The astromech is a loud yellow and blue which is just fun. All figures have new and exclusive prints and parts. Morgan Elsbeth could have had printing on her skirt. But I don't think it's necessary. It only stands out because everyone else is so detailed with their leg prints.

The backsides continue the printing wins... except for the astromech! Seriously Lego, we know you can print on the backside now that you've done it with R2. Stop making us wait for it to become the standard for all future astromechs!

And one more shot for good measure. Could the figures have been better? Maybe slightly.

Giving Ray (I mean Baylan) shoulder pads would have helped give him just a tiny bit more height. And of course having orange instead of red sabers is a must. But for me, part of the fun of Lego is getting to make those changes myself. My son doesn't care that Baylan has a red lightsaber. He just wants to play with them. And the orange blades are easy to obtain from Bricklink right now.

OVERALL

This may be the best Lego set I've built since the Lion Knight's Castle. It's a great build experience, has fun and new techniques, good figures, and a color scheme that really pops! I have a few tiny quibbles, but I would recommend this set to any Star Wars fan in a heart beat.

SCORE
How do I rate this set?

DESIGN 10
Great techniques used to build the ships and a fantastic color scheme.

BUILDING EXPERIENCE 10
I had to fight my son to be able to build this. We both enjoyed it so much.

FEATURES 10
These ships have been swooshed a lot in my house.

PLAYABILITY 10
Totally playable. But also very versatile if you want it for parts.

PARTS 10
New parts, new colors, and new figures; what more could you ask for?

VALUE FOR MONEY 10
Coming in just over $100 you want to make sure you're getting a good value for your money when you buy it, and indeed you are!

FINAL SCORE: 10
Almost perfection in a Lego set. I can't recommend this highly enough. Plus, I've seen it on sale at both Costco and on Amazon. What are you waiting for? Go buy it already!

[Max_Lego]

This is, indeed, an awesome set, the best in the Ahsoka line, IMHO. But a dogfight between the E-Wing and Shin's fighter is more from "Never trust a trailer!" territory. Nevertheless, the set is very good, my favourite part being the E-Wing, New Republic pilot and droid.

[elfprince13]

Those shoulder pads on Baylan really sell the look - can't believe they missed the opportunity on that one!

[Yperio_Bricks]

It's a good set and the pilot, astromech and Morgan look great! The upgraded Baylan looks much better! Is it possible to for him to wear an cape under the shoulder pads? But the worst part of the set is Shin's face print. She looks so much older than in reality.

[MKJoshA]

12 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

The upgraded Baylan looks much better! Is it possible to for him to wear an cape under the shoulder pads?

It's possible, but depending on the type of cape it would crease the fabric.

[Mandalorianknight]

8 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

It's a good set and the pilot, astromech and Morgan look great! The upgraded Baylan looks much better! Is it possible to for him to wear an cape under the shoulder pads? But the worst part of the set is Shin's face print. She looks so much older than in reality.

I made basically the same figure and put the cape over his shoulder pads. If you do a spongy cape it should be fine. Totally agree about Shin too, though I'm not sure which head to replace hers with. Right now I think my Shin has a Jyn/Padme/Leia face just because I have some spares lying around.

 

 

 

11 hours ago, MKJoshA said:

I had to fight my son to be able to build this.

High praise indeed. 

While I loved the show, I wasn't a huge fan of how Shin's fighter is colored here (I think it's technically correct, it just feels weirdly bright), and was a little disappointed by the E-wings' role being a cameo in a single scene (why not have them be Hera's squad instead of X-wings?) so I'm hoping I can hold out until the Heir to the Empire/Mandoverse crossover movie hopefully uses the fighter in a larger capacity. Didn't help that Shin and Baylan both feel inaccurate here... I think baylan really needed a cape and/or shoulder armor to sell his imposing stature, and as others have said Shin looks weirdly old. I made purist customs of them, and I honestly feel you can do fully purist custom Baylans that look almost objectively better than the official one.

That said, as a set for kids, this is pretty much perfect! Two good-size colorful starfighters of opposing factions with the three main antagonists and some spares for the NR. (Porter was good in his role, it'd be cool to see him as a wing leader in the movie's final space battle, but he doesn't stand a chance against two jedi and a nightsister)

Edited December 14, 2023 by Mandalorianknight

[Flieger]

Thanks for the review!

At first I also rated it 10/10 despite the obvious weaknesses in the minifig design of Baylan, the lack of skirt printing, and the reuse of Qi'ra's hair.

But the longer I looked the more I was annoyed with the colour choices of Shin Hati's fighter. Instead of yellow, it should be gold. Instead of light grey, it should be metallic. And that really hurts. Contrary to some opinions, the fighter is not too large, though. Looking at the screenshots and comparing the head of Shin to the cockpit space, Lego is right. However it is probably wrong in terms of proportions. I don't mind that much since I can change that easily. Changing the colours... not easy. The E-Wing on the other hand is near perfect, small mods to the cockpit and the seating position of the pilot, and we are done.

In the end, my final judgement is still overwhelming positive. I got this for 70€ (and it was not hard to find) instead of 105€. Both fighters feel worth more than 35€ and minifigs are a solid enough base. 8/10 for me.