REVIEW: 8015 Assassin Droids Battle Pack

[WhiteFang]

Hello to all Eurobricks members and Star Wars lovers,

Here I am once again, presenting you with another of the latest Clone Wars reviews. This time, I will be doing up the sister battle pack, which was released together with the 8014 Clone Walker Battle Pack at the beginning of this year. Now it’s a moment of truth where you shall see the latest battle droids’ design from the Separatists’ armies to crush the Republic scum.

Name: Assassin Droids Battle Pack

Theme: LEGO System / Star Wars / Clone Wars

Year: 2009

Pieces: 94

Minifigs: 5

Price: USD$9.99, SGD$29.90

Resources: Brickset, Peeron

An image of a 8015, Assassin Droids Battle Pack

Take a look at the back of the box

These are the droids which are well researched and classified for special covert operations against the Republic Forces, better known as Assassin Droids. No one knew of, or were able to confirm the exact existence of these droids, until recently. These Assassin Droids appeared for the very first time in action, in the new Clone Wars animated TV series, in Episode 5, Rookies.

Putting these Assassin droids together, with the usual battle droids and super battle droids together, these new additions will make a fine addition into the Separatist armies.

Box content reveal manual, packets and remaining spare parts

Within the box, there are 2 sealed packets to construct the speeder and the rest of these one of a kind specialised droids. This is a sneak peek into the instruction manual of building the speeder. After building, these are the remaining spare parts and most of them are droids' spare parts.

An overview of its minifigs' building parts and accessories

To give everyone a little shock, believe it or not, this is my very first droid’s building experience. Yes, this is not a joke. When I begin to open this set, and I was kind of surprised to see so many loose droids parts which make up of several components such as body, legs, arms, head parts together. Everything falls into place once I have combined those parts together and I realised it makes a lot of sense by doing it this way. The weapons arsenals consist of 1 long blaster and 4 short blasters to arm these assassins.

The Assassin Droids, themselves

This new battle pack consists of 5 minifigs. There are 2 different types of Assassin Droids available in this battle pack. The silver bright droids are known as the Assassin Droids, while the black looking droids are known as the Elite Assassin Droids. By right, assassin can be classified as a much higher tier in terms of skills and power. In our daily context, we could consider these droids to be known as Commandos or Rangers categories. However, to differentiate these Assassin Droids further, another higher tier than the current is created, which is known as the Elite Assassin Droids. I suppose these Elite Assassin Droids’ skills are super agile and quick in their missions. This is my assumption as I have never ever seen these droids in actions. It is also noted that these Assassin Droids are much expensive than the regular battle droids.

TLG has been very generous towards the Separatists or Trade Federation. I do believe that these droids are much easier to produce instead of the traditional minifigs’ assortments. For example, the 7654 Droids Battle Pack includes a total of 7 minifigs, which consist of 4 battle droids and 3 super battle droids.

Who is taller?

It seemed pretty obvious to all that the Assassin Droids are much slimmer and taller compared to the Clone Trooper. Look at the height of the Assassin Droid’s head. Clone Trooper definitely can’t see eye to eye with these Assassin Droids.

Similar resemblance from the forgotten armies...

Personally, I feel that these droids bear an uncanny resemblance to its former ancient counterparts which are the recent creations of the Skeletons from the Castle theme. Their bone structures are similar to one another except that these droids could not move their legs separately unlike skeletons.

2-Droids' Speeder Bike: Building up the frame

Covering up the sides of the cockpit

Major sections of the 2-Droids' Speeder Bike

The building process of the 2-Droids’ Speeder Bike is relatively simple and quick. I do find this speeder bike pretty sleek and unique. The color scheme of blue and grey compliments one another. One thing to note about this speeder bike, are its rear wings. It seemed the light grey of its pointed edge are made up of some kind of bendable plastic that allows some form of flexibility. In addition, there are 2 flick-fire missiles included as well.

A closer look at the cockpit

These Assassin Droids can’t sit on studs. In fact, one of their arms is meant for different purposes. I have placed all of mine left arms to hold blasters while the right arm are meant to hold on tight to its speeder bike at the blue handle in their individual seats.

Contacted! Fire at will!

*BANG* *EEEEKKK*

To conclude, this is one fine battle pack which is unique in its own purpose, but expensive for the price tag it bears. I am ranting, because this set in Singapore is priced at SGD$29.90 which is rather steep, similar to the Clone Walker Battle Pack. Nevertheless, I must admit that this is reasonably priced at the other parts of the world especially US region. This set comes with 5 droids with 2 different categories, no stickers and one cool speeder bike. Overall, I could tell you that this is definitely worth your money depending on your buying regions. However, I don’t think many of us will be buying many of these sets to build a real army unlike the battle droids and super battle droids. Assassin Droids are supposed to be specialsed in their own field. Therefore, I feel that many of us won’t be buying as much as the other counterparts.

Summary review

Playability: 8/10 (Could use the speeder bike and assassin droids to integrate into battles and used for scouting purposes.)

Design: 7/10 (Speeder bike are much better designed with good use of its color. )

Price: 7/10 (An expensive army building set, but this is the only way to obtain these unique assassin droids.)

Overall: 7.3/10 (A good alternative army building set which could be added to the Separatists, despite of the hefty price tag.)

I gave it a "4" based on my Review Score Card. What about yours?

Disclaimer: In this review, the ranting of the pricing is entirely based on Singapore context and is not applicable for other regions such as US and UK. Thanks.

Hope everyone of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Critics are strongly welcomed.

Pictures can be found in My Brickshelf (When moderated)

[AoNZ]

Thanks for the review WhiteFang.

Definitely looks good enough to get at least one.

[darkrebellion]

Thanks for another amazingly detailed review WhiteFang (At the moment I still can´t believe how you manage to put so many detail in your review for such a little small set, which I think is very unique and awesome ). This battlepack is one of the best in my opinion. The speede is the best battlepack vehicle ever released at my point of view and also I think this new Assassin Droids are way cooler than the normal ones. I think the silver ones look better at simple look but to me, like a proud owner of one of this sets , I can say that the Elite Assassin Droids look a lot better then the silver ones, trust me. Also I want to hear your opinion about your favorite. Clones or Assassins? Which is your favorite?

[KimT]

Thanks for giving us a 2nd review of this.

And especially the inventory picture is a great thing to have in a review.

I am getting one of these for my collection , but since I am not a droid fan I'll probably spend any extra savings on the other Battle Pack.

I've got plenty of droids already with 2 MTTs and what-not.

Indexed

[CopMike]

Thanks for the nice review WhiteFang!

Nice too see so much silvery pieces. As for the droids themself they look ok. The speeder is a bit thin, but dark blue here also is good to have.

I enjoyed the pics comparing height and weaponry !

I am getting one of these for my collection , but since I am not a droid fan I'll probably spend any extra savings on the other Battle Pack.

2nd!

CopMike

[WhiteFang]

Guys, thanks for all of your kind words. Glad you have enjoyed reading it.

Also I want to hear your opinion about your favorite. Clones or Assassins? Which is your favorite?

Personally, I prefer the silver assassin droids over the black ones, simply because I find silver much more attractive and beautiful than the normal black. On the other hand, my favourite is defintely Clone Troopers. They are indeed one of the most beautiful soldiers which I have ever seen.

I am getting one of these for my collection , but since I am not a droid fan I'll probably spend any extra savings on the other Battle Pack.

Yes, I agreed with you. If I ever have spare cash, I will get more Clone Troopers instead of this. Right now, it's ratio 5:1. It's not that hard to find out which is 1.

[Navy Trooper Fenson]

A very good review for such a small set. I am going to buy just one of it because of the droids and the silver parts. Having an army of Assassin Droids seems to be a very useless because they normally work for criminals and smugglers.

But I have to correct you:

These Assassin Droids appeared for the very first time in action, in the new Clone Wars animated TV series, in Episode 5, Rookies.

The Assassin Droids in the BP represent the IG-86 droids that worked in The Clone Wars for Ziro the Hutt and that smuggler alien from Episode 6, Downfall of a droid. The LEGO figure is also identical to IG-88 from 6209 Slave One, except for the stiff arm. The Commando Droids from Rookies are dark grey/brown and have normal Battledroid heads with a shorter mouth.

[ditto]

And especially the inventory picture is a great thing to have in a review.

seconded! inventory/accessories photos should be always included!

i wish they would have produced droid commandos instead of the assassin droids though.

the former is part of the separatist army while the latter is privately owned.

[jifel]

I bought this right when it came out, and as very nice as it is, I dont intend on getting more than one, unlike the clone bp.

Very nice review!

jifel

[WhiteFang]

But I have to correct you:

The Assassin Droids in the BP represent the IG-86 droids that worked in The Clone Wars for Ziro the Hutt and that smuggler alien from Episode 6, Downfall of a droid. The LEGO figure is also identical to IG-88 from 6209 Slave One, except for the stiff arm. The Commando Droids from Rookies are dark grey/brown and have normal Battledroid heads with a shorter mouth.

Seriously, I have no idea that it was related to the IG86 or 88 whom is a bounty hunter in the Star Wars OT. Are they supposed to be produced under the same factory? To be honest, I have not watched any of the latest CW anime episode yet. I do wish I have the time, to view these episodes.

[Geopolis]

I still wonder who are "elite assassin droids". Are they meant to be like the IG lancer droids?