7121 Naboo Swamp

[Clone OPatra]

Qui-Gon: Are you brain dead?

Jar Jar: I spek.

QG: The ability to speak does not make you intelligent, now get out of here.

JJ: Oh no-sah! Meesa your humble servant!

Set Title: Naboo Swamp

Set #: 7121

Theme: Star Wars

Subtheme: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace

Pieces: 81

Minifigures: 4

Year of Release: 1999

Price at Release: USD $10

Inventory? Buy it? Bricklink Peeron

Flickr Set

INSTRUCTIONS

Upon opening up the box (mine is now long gone), you first get the instructions.

On the front, notice it still says System, and has that cute LEGO Episode 1 logo. There's also some nice background art and the odd stray blaster discharge.

Back, complete with minifigures building the set and a crazy alternate model! (Boy I miss this old style...)

Random page, with nice and easy-to-follow steps, and a non-intruding background.

But wait, here's something interesting! On the steps to build the two identical STAPs, the step numbers are in an evil red Darth Maul circle. For the steps to build the swamps, though, the step numbers are in a yellow lightsaber circle. I'd never noticed this before.

PIECES

So, what does it take to build two STAPs and a swamp in 1999? For the swamp, it takes a very long blue plate (this was the last set to have a blue 6x16 plate), seaweed, green whips, and a nice amount of actual bricks. Yes, bricks! Normal bricks, I feel, is something that has really been missing in Star Wars sets these days, and makes LEGO feel less LEGO-y to me when they're not around.

To build the STAPs, you need four clear pieces as stands (a technique copied for later STAPs and other flying models), and a bunch of small brown and gray pieces. Those triangular pieces that also come on speeder bikes are nice.

MINIFIGURES and ACCESSORIES

Let's take a look at the minfigures from the front. There are two battle droids, Qui-Gon Ginn (looking good) and everybody's favorite character, Jar Jar Binks! When this set came out, Qui-Gon was also available in the more expensive 7161 Gungan Sub and 7171 Mos Espa Podrace and the cheaper 7101 Lightsaber Duel. Jar Jar was also in the Sub and Podrace set.

From the back, we see the details of Jar-Jar's head and Qui-Gon's hair (see my 7101 Lightsaber Duel Review for a pic of just the hair), and, oh my, Battle Droid Backpacks! Sure, they're just 1x2 tan bricks, but why can't LEGO put them in nowadays? (You can also see that I taped Qui-Gon's cape long ago to keep it from fraying more)

Qui-Gon had one of those face prints that LEGO must have found difficult. Comparing my three Qui-Gons (from Gungan Sub, Lightsaber Duel, and this set), each one has a slightly different beard. Odd, isn't it?

As far as accessories go, there's just Qui-Gon's green lightsaber…

…and a clam (from Belville), maybe for Jar-Jar to eat.

BUILD

So, in case you're interested, here's how LEGO built a STAP back in '99. It's undoubtedly repetitive to build two of the exact same thing, but hey, we've never gotten two again. (LEGO seemed to like two of the same thing back then, two speeder bikes, two STAPs… some designer had an obsession with blocky and brown)

And the swamp, with so many bricks, glorious bricks!

SET - STAP

Now here are the completed STAPs, yes you get two of them! I can show the side and front just taking one picture! It does resemble a STAP, so that's good, and it is about the correct size in comparison to the battle droid. The top guns are pretty lame, being just gray rods, but not truly terrible. One slight problem is that the droids are just hanging on with no foothold, that would freak the hell out of the stupid CW Bds, but these EP1 droids could probably figure it out.

Since I have 7654 Droids Battle Pack, I took a comparison of the old and new STAPs. The new one is much sleeker than the old one, but I think the old one captures the appropriate size better. That new one just seems too big to me. Also, the new one doesn't come with a back-packed battle droid! But the new one does look much better overall, so I'm conflicted as to which one is really better.

SET - SWAMP

Besides the STAPs, we've got the little swamp. It's a nice addition to the set (and lets the set's name not be STAP Attack), and it certainly boosts the playability. The parts included here are good, with plenty of seaweed and whips, as well as the bricks in green and brown (which were relatively rare colors). For what it is, the design here is also quite nice with its asymmetry and all. The clam makes a pleasant, swampy addition.

There really isn't much else to see on the swamp, and play features are at zero, but here's too more angled views anyway, just to show off the green and brown. Enjoy them (or scroll down to the bottom!).

Seeing as my picture supply has run dry, I'll wrap things up. It's a nice set with good thought out features, and for ten bucks I can't say it's lacking anything.

The rundown:

Parts: 9/10 - sure, it's 19 pieces under the "old" price-per-piece ratio, but you get a nice selection, and did a mention a big blue baseplate?

Minifigures: 10/10 - You could make a case that Obi-Wan should be there to, put that would just be complaining for the sake of complaining. You even get two battle droids, with backpacks to boot! Why, with four figs, it's like a conflict battlepack!

Price: 10/10 - As I mentioned, it's under the "old" pppr, but four minifigures more than compensate.

Playability: 9.5/10 - You get conflict, a lightsaber to hack those droids to bits, Two! STAPS, a little diorama to play with them in... it's good, (but I'm sure some flick-fires would make it better… right?).

Build: 7.5/10 - Doing two of the same STAP is annoying, but the outcome is alright! The rest is also a bit repetitive, and quick.

Overall: 9.2/10 - I will be honest, the STAPs don't look so great, but this was '99. For $10, you get two STAPs and a swamp, plus four minifigures, and it's a real movie scene and playset. All in all, despite the design, it's a great buy. And it's based on the creativity of kids' minds, not their ability to flick some stupid missiles.

Extra Factor: Swooshability - 7/10 The STAP are sort of unwieldy, and that's the part you really should be able to swoosh. The swamp, however, can fly around all day!

That's it! I hope you enjoyed this review, and you can also check out my Gungan Sub review for more Episode I swampy fun!

[JimBee]

Seeing as my picture supply has run dry, I'll wrap things up.

Nice way to conclude.

I think this set is pretty good for its price. It comes with uncommon Qui-Gon and Jar Jar figs, as well as two BDs and STAPs. The seaweed and green whip (vine) pieces are a nice touch, as well.

I can't say much else, but I'll go ahead and vote "Good".

Good review, by the way.

[I Scream Clone]

Bravo on a really nice review of what looks to be a cool set , with lots of figs and some scenery and conflict. I def would have picked one up back in the day

Congratulations on recieving your Bronze Medal for reviewing.

[KimT]

This is and was a bad set

I never fancied the PT and I'll never learn to like Jar Jar

The set doesn't have that much to it and getting 2 battle droids wasn't really a problem when this was released.

Only set to beat this in "badness" would be "Gungan Sub".

But that's my opinion - I like OT and Leia was definately in my dreams when I was kid - who'd rather be Jar Jar than Han Solo?

For only a few bucks more, you could buy the 7128 Scout Speeder set and that was preffered by many.

I've bought this, but only because I collect Star Wars and must have all.

A below average set, closing in fast on being a poor set.

[Shadows]

This is and was a bad set

A below average set, closing in fast on being a poor set.

Nah, it's actually a decent set, or it would be if it didn't depict one of the earliest disasters of the prequel trilogy. From a LEGO standpoint, they did a good job on it, put the blame were it belongs... crappy movie.

That said, I bought at least 5 since they were $2 on clearance at the time. Would I do it again? Absolutely!

Positives: Jedi torso, brown cape, chrome lightsaber, decent scale STAPs, clam and vegetation.

Negatives: Jar Jar, creepy hair.

Seriously, that hair is almost scarier than Jar Jar.

Almost.

[I Scream Clone]

....... creepy hair.

Seriously, that hair is almost scarier than Jar Jar.

Very Joe Dirt! How did I miss that on the first pass

[Shadows]

Very Joe Dirt! How did I miss that on the first pass

I had no idea what that meant when I read it. I made a special trip to Google and now that I know, you owe me those 60 seconds of my life back.

[CommanderCody77]

This is quite a good review but not such a good set.

I have this set and I think the shell is kinda out of place

[Natman8000]

Good review. This set isnt so great in my opinion, I think when thet produced it, they rushed it.

[Clone OPatra]

Somehow, as is apparent from my review, I have to disagree with all of you who say this is a poor set. In terms of playability, this set is great: four minifigs, and a little scene. The price-per-piece ratio is also pretty good, and the minifigs themselves look good to me.

Another reason I like this set is because of Jar Jar, who was and still is one of my favorite characters in Episode 1. Personally, I really like Episode 1, not as much as Episode 3 or the OT, but it's much better than Episode 2.

Anyway, I feel that this set is a good depiction of the scene in the movie, isn't missing anything, and has lots of fun to it.

[legopiotre]

This set was great in 1999 ! It had great possibilities with two main characters and two droids. Of course, the new STAP is in my opinion far better than the one we get in this set, but design has really improved thanks to new pieces that are sleeker. It was great to get a small baseplate to play with, I always though that LEGO StarWars lack of baseplates.

[Icesaber]

I wish they would keep the droid backpacks (and the black antennae in the video game would've been nice, too!). The droid looks so much better.

[prateek]

i like these staps better than the new one i dont know why

[JimBee]

Seriously, that hair is almost scarier than Jar Jar.

Very Joe Dirt! How did I miss that on the first pass

Qui-gon's hair? I don't get how it is creepy...

[Clone OPatra]

Qui-gon's hair? I don't get how it is creepy...

Me neither. It is especially good for hippies, and captures Qui-Gon's hair in the movie very well.

[Clone OPatra]

Hello, just bumping this up to announce that I've updated it with all new pictures, as well as new text and some new sections. Why, it's almost like a new review.

Enjoy!

[RileyC]

Nice review Clone O'Patra. Its weird how Qui Gon has three different beards but I guess the technology wasn't as consistent back then

[The Legonater]

I'll never learn to like Jar Jar

Actually, I never got the LEGO Jar Jar, and I've been kicking myself ever since.

[Penitent Tangent]

For me at least.. Jar Jar has become so hated, he's almost likable. At least in some kind of ironic sense, like this review (presumably) uses.

I'd love to see a new Jar Jar figure, I was actually disappointed they didn't include one alongside Obi-Wan in this years Pirate Tank set, it would have made sense.

[NBK]

Haha I remember building this set. At the time it didnt seem terrible.. but now with all the other STAPs and structures we can make its just eh . I miss prices like these though

[rakky]

The price is certainly great for what you get with it, everything costs so much more these days.