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Big Cam

Review: 7657 AT-ST

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The AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport) is one of the coolest and most memorable vehicles in the Star Wars history. Next to greats such as the Star Destroyer or the Death Star, this is one of the original great designs that most adults remember from the movies they saw in the theatres back in the 80's. Although it first appeared in he Empire Strikes Back, most will probably remember the AT-ST from Return of the Jedi where they were featured in the battle on Endor, where the Ewoks cleverly defeat them. This is one of my favorite vehicles just because of the ingenuity. They aren't very practical but they are cool, plain, and simple. I remember seeing these as a kid in the movie and falling in love. Enjoy my review.

BASIC INFORMATION:

Set Name: AT-ST

Set Number: 7657

Number of Pieces: 244 LEGO box, 244 Peeron, 239 Bricklink, 244 Brickset

Minifigs: 1

Price: $20 USD

Theme: Star Wars

Year Released: 2007

RESOURCES:

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3966535017_39b869c30d_o.jpg (high res pics available here, also by clicking the images in the review)

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THE REVIEW:

The Box

Front:

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Typical square 30th anniversary style box with Darth Vader in the top right corner. I love this scene they have the model in on the box because that was my favorite scene from the movie. This scene depicts the AT-ST driver opening the hatch just like he's in a submarine.

Side:

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Full sized image of an AT-ST driver with one of the coolest minifig heads ever made (IMHO). The sunglasses are just so cool, and I love the mediocre smirk he has as he searches for those darn rebels.

Back:

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Back of this box shows the main features of the AT-ST in LEGO form. There is a mechanism to turn the head of the AT-ST and they also show the hatch open and closed. Lots of sets displayed underneath, including my next review.

Instructions

Front:

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Single square instruction booklet, with the same image as the box. The explosion looks very pixelated or computer generated, and I was curious if it was my image but it looks this way in real life as well. Just something weird I noticed on this set but not on any other instructions that I own.

Back:

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If there is one thing that I think is LEGO's best idea ever, its the parts page being on the back. No paging through if you happen to need a part number, heck if you have them in clear sheets like me, you don't even have to take it out.

Contents:

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Lots of light grey and dark grey, typical Star Wars. It does come with the coolest minifig head ever but otherwise, nothing super rare in my opinion.

Printed Pieces:

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Two exhaust vent pieces here, nothing extravagant but at least there are no stickers. Any set without stickers are a step in the right direction. (No extra large pic here, this is as big as it gets.)

Extra pieces:

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Looking into the future after you are done building this set, you will find the following left over pieces. You get a half blue technic pin, a single round stud in grey, two 1x2 grey pieces, and an odd piece that bricklink refers to as a Pneumatic T Piece New Style (T Bar).

Minifigs

Front:

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Brilliant minifig!! I love this guy, he may only have simple printing but his head and hat are just great. His goggles/glasses are so cool, and his helmet is just so retro. I may be biased since Return of the Jedi was one of the best films of my childhood, but I digress, this single minifig is fine in my eyes for this set.

Back:

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Nothing crazy here, unfortunately no back printing but nonetheless he's a sweet minifig and the helmet goes all the way down to the top of his shoulders, I love how low down it goes, just like the movie helmets.

Helmet Off:

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Here you see the full awesomeness of the goggles/glasses. They remind me of oversized aviators, which I think are very retro and relevant to the time the Star Wars films were made. I threw his gun into this picture just for fun although it is a standard blaster that you should have many of if you bought any clone battlepacks in 2007.

The AT-ST Build Process

Cockpit:

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Here we see the cockpit only half built. It's very cramped and deep, so in order to show you the gun holster and seating position, I have this half built portion.

Cockpit Base 1:

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This is the base of the cockpit and will go at the top of the legs. This shot shows the rear facing gear and how it is hooked up to a smaller gear in the center of the base.

Cockpit Base 2:

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This is the turntable piece with a matching gear piece that will rest on top of the base.

Cockpit Base 3:

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Here you see the turntable in place and the gears are now matched up inside.

Blaster build 1:

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I really liked the design of the front blasters. Here is an in process build picture of the front blasters. You can see the the small dish pieces right below the mount for two cleverly mounted lightsaber hilts.

Blaster build 2:

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Here, unfortunetely the dish pieces get covered up with some steep slop pieces which act as armor on the AT-ST.

Body Complete:

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Here is the upper body portion completed. It looks strikingly similar to the movie version and all we need now are some legs.

Body/Leg comparison:

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I did not add any build photos of the legs because frankly there isn't much to them. You can see 90% of the pieces used in the final product, so here is a comparision of the height of the legs and the height of the body. They are almost the same size.

The Complete AT-ST

Front:

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The front view immedietaly strikes me as a face, a fairly vicious looking face, but a face none the less. This view clearly shows the two eye-like openings which the driver can look out of for a great frontward view. The eyelids also act as a shields, to protect the driver from stray blaster bolts.

Right:

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Here we what I would consider a small cannon. The Star Wars database doesn't directly address what this is, it is mearly referred to as a weapon pod. I am sure these pods would take to customization quite nicely. You may have also noticed that there is no window or opening of any sort on the side's, I think this would be most problematic for the driver.

Rear:

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The rear view shows the two printed pieces, which again are not directly addressed but I view them as a sort of exhaust vent. Here you also see the technic gear sticking out of the back which serves a very specific purpose. This will be explained in greater detail later in the review.

Left:

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Here we finally see a LEGO vehicle that isn't identical to the opposite side. On the side profiles you can see the detailing on the legs with the motorcycle mudgaurd pieces. The set could have gone without them but it just adds to the detail. On the left side we have a dual laser blaster cleverly made out of binoculars. I prefer this side's weapon to the right sides, but I'm sure they both are equally effective. Again we are lacking any side viewports or windows, this has to be the major downfall of the AT-ST.

Turning Mechanism:

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As you can see LEGO did a great job of allowing the body of the vehicle to turn about 45 degrees in either direction from straight forward. This allows for great posing and also stays true to the movie as this happened in the movie as well. By twisting the technic gear at the back, you get the results below.

Head Turn 1:

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Here we see one side of the movement angle, a great feature on this set yet I still find myslef just quickly turning it from side to side :cry_happy: I'm a little kid inside still.

Head Turn 2:

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This shot shows the opposite lock.

Cockpit closeup:

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Here we see the single man cockpit. Although the Star Wars Databank lists this vehicle as holding two drivers, LEGO had to scale it down a bit and you only get one driver as well as seating for one driver. You do get a handy gun holder on the side of the inner cockpit. Instead of a control panel, LEGO opted for a trans red 1x2 tile/grill piece. It is a little cramped inside the cockpit, although this doesn't bother me becasue I think most of your play time and display time will revolve around the outside of this vehicle. You also get a glimpse of the hatch piece that allows our faithful Imperial to jump up and get a better view as he is limited to a forward view from inside.

Complete AT-ST:

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Here we have our complete set in all it's glory. This is the vehicle I'd like to drive if I was in the Imperial Army. I can just picture it running down a Jedi who is using the force to run faster than a normal human is capable of. Unfortunetally this set doesn't have any sort of walking mechanism but for the price I didn't really expect it.

Complete closeup:

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My favorite view of this set as well as the way I display it. I loved it in the movie when the Imperial driver pops open the hatch to get a better view. There is no way I'm hiding this minifig in a cockpit that you can barely see into. He holds his blaster tight since he cannot reach the controls from up there and his co-pilot has been omitted from the LEGO version.

Totals:

Design: 9/10 I want to give this set a ten but I am resisting because the legs are not walkable for lack of better words. The main body of this set is great. I like how the hatch is easy to open with the radar dish piece on top, although the dish is only held on with one stud so it's a little fragile. The lightsaber piece as a handle is brilliant. I love how your minifig can hold on to it and be suspended up to look out of the cockpit. The legs look very movie accurate but unfortunately don't walk. I can't really complain about it since it is only a $20 set, and I dont really believe it would have sold as well if it were say $30 and the only difference was it walked.

Parts: 7/10 I personaly don't feel any parts are really great in this set. The hatch piece is nice but it's not the first time it has been in a LEGO set and isn't all that rare, in fact it has appeared in 50 sets total. Otherwise you get some hinge pieces and some grey bricks.

Build: 10/10 The build was pretty easy and the vehicle is incredibly stable once completed. The legs can be broken off easily for a battle damage effect, as you can see in the Build Process 2 picture above, the legs are held on by two sets of hinges per leg. The body area is very solid, and the only real problem I've noticed is the radar dish piece on top of the hatch can come off when opening the hatch. As long as you are careful it shouldn't be a problem.

Minifigs: 10/10 I think you already know my thoughts on this fig. The legs are standard, the torso is nice but not too flashy, and the head is brilliant. I love the goggles/glasses, and his helmet is exactly like the movie verison. I do wish there were two drivers as George Lucas intended, but costs needed to be kept down, and I understand. He gets a blaster in case some clever Ewoks take out his AT-ST.

Playability: 8/10 I think it has got good playability to a point. It depends on how you play. Alot of people set up dioramas or scenes from their favorite movie. If scenes is your game, this set works perfectly because it can't walk but poses nicely. If you want to actually play with it like a car and have it move around your going to have to improvise.

Price: 10/10 I think this price is perfect for the piece count as well as the set it builds. Another minifig would have been nice but in my eyes it doesn't bring the set down at all. Also since LEGO built this vehicle for one, it only makes sense.

Total: 54/60 I think overall this is a great set. I had high hopes when buying it because it is one of my favorite vehicles. The design is spot on, minus the leg walking issue. The hatch works smoothly, and there is a bar for the minifig to grab onto so he can look out the top for pesky Ewoks. I like the different weapons on either side of the main body, as well as the turning ability the top body portion has. This feature alone makes for great scene setups. It may not be a spaceship you can swoosh, but it sure has its playability on the ground. I also think the details on this vehicle are just enough to make it look strikingly similar to the movie version without being too over the top. I am thrilled I bought this set and any army builder should have a couple.

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Excellent review. Agreed completely.

This is actually my favourite AT-ST build, the new Endor one is a tad skinny and has the rough plated appearance, while this one's a bit larger, stabler and smooth.

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Excellent review. Agreed completely.

This is actually my favourite AT-ST build, the new Endor one is a tad skinny and has the rough plated appearance, while this one's a bit larger, stabler and smooth.

Good to know. I'm getting the Endor set sometime this year, and I was looking forward to getting another AT-ST.

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Big Cam your comment on the side weapons is actually true. One is a grenade launcher and the other is a light repeating blaster. Usually the AT-ST is driven by 2, the driver who also fires the main cannon and the gunner who fires the grenades and light blaster.

Atstblue.jpg

Edited by Star_Wars_Rules

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Big Cam your comment on the side weapons is actually true. One is a grenade launcher and the other is a light repeating blaster. Usually the AT-ST is driven by 2, the driver who also fires the main cannon and the gunner who fires the grenades and light blaster.

Sweet, thanks for that picture too, it will only add to my review!

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