Review: 7929 The Battle of Naboo

[General Magma]

Hello all, and welcome to my very first review.

Set Name: The Battle of Naboo

Set Number: 7929

Year of release: 2011

Price: EUR 29,99* - USD 29,99

Parts: 241

Minifigs: Jar Jar Binks (new), Gungan Warrior (new), 8 battle droids, 2 battle droid pilots (new).

*(I paid EUR 24,99 actually, but 29,99 is the regular price)

Today, I picked up the 7929 Battle of Naboo, and decided to do a review of this nice set.

The minifigures are great, and I like the model itself, too. It's actually much larger than I expected, and looks good, although the size isn't accurate to the "real" one. People who'd like to perfect it could modify it, and make it larger.

The pictures are clickable, so you end up in my Flickr photostream clicking them. There, you can view larger sizes of the pictures.

Index:

1. The Box & Instructions

2. The Build

3. The Minifigures

4. Pieces of Interest

5. Ratings

The Box & Instructions

Here's a picture of all the components of the set, including the box and instructions (note the partying droids and Jar Jar chasing the unarmed pilot):

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Here's the back of the box. It shows the features and the minifigures, plus 3 of the wave 1 sets:

The 1:1 picture for the minifigs, which is always displayed on the "roof" (top) of the box.

This time, we find Jar Jar in the spotlights:

All the Star Wars 2011 sets from wave 1 (from the instructions):

The part list, that we always find around the end of the instructions:

The Build

Well, onto the build now then, shall we?

The build was pretty fun, but not really much new.

The start of the building process. The "base" for the transport is being built up now.

The build is almost done, and this is what it looks like from underneath now.

The main build has been finished now. All that's left is the actual droid carrier.

So, this is what it will look like without the carrier:

And then, this is what the actual droid carrier looks like, not placed onto the transport.

It's easy to remove the plates that hold the droids. Every plate is capable of carrying 4 droids, so the entire thing can carry 8.

It isn't great, and could use some modifying, but it's fine as it is, to me. I might modify it later on, though.

When placed onto the transport, it looks like this. Pretty nice, isn't it?

Pic of the back only:

This is how the carrier is attached to the vehicle:

"Cockpit" on the front, where you can see the controls (or, the levers...)

And ending the build section of this review, here are the leftovers.

I thought the reddish brown 1x6 tile was an extra piece, turns out I forgot to add it to the front of the transport

The Minifigures:

And now, get ready to see the best part of the set... *drum roll*

The minifigs!

It's great to have this amount of battle droids in a cheap set. The new pilots are a nice touch, too.

But the true highlight here is the Gungan Warrior, along with Jar Jar Binks.

Here are the Gungan Warrior and Jar Jar Binks, both with a new torso and head printings.

The backs of the two are greatly detailed.

They even added back prints, even though those are hidden.

Gives for some great other uses for these torsos.

Comparison shot:

On the left is the new Jar Jar Binks, and on the right is the old Jar Jar Binks. Easy to figure out which one is best.

The head molds are exactly the same, but the new ones have head printing. They even printed the nose holes!

And now, onto the battle droids. There are 8 regular battle droids in this set, and 2 newly printed droid pilots.

Comparison shot:

On the left we have the all-new droid pilot, with a printed body. On the right we have the older version, from 2007's MTT.

I don't have the one from 1999, unfortunately, but these will do. I like the new one best, although the one from the MTT still works well as a droid pilot, even next to the new one. The only differences are the tan printing on the new one's body, and that it has got two of the bent arms, instead of one bent and one straight. Do not fear the shadows.

Next off, we hav- wait, what?! The Gungan warrior killed off the droid pilot by sticking a cesta into his back. He's supposed to throw the booma (energy ball), though. Silly guy.

Yes, that long pole with a booma/energy ball on top is called a cesta. Hopefully you learnt something new today.

"How's that for a horse-frog head?!"

Pieces of Interest

Next off: the pieces of interest.

By that, I mean the great and interesting pieces from this set. I only showed the new pieces, although the dark tan pieces

are also quite nice. The Gungan heads and the droid body aren't exactly new, but the prints do make them a bit new.

The shield is fantastic, looks very nice in transparent purple.

Ratings

Ah, we have come to the last part of my first review: the ratings.

Here is what I think about this set, and thus what I rated it:

Design: 7/10 - The model looks nice, and has a good design. It has some flaws here and there,

and if I counted the size accuracy, then it would have been lower.. But, they shouldn't have made this bigger - leave that to the people who're going to modify it. Not everything can be minifig-scaled.

Build: 7/10 - The build was pretty good, and can be fun to some, but there's nothing new, really. Hence the 7/10.

Playability: 8/10 - It is swooshable, and although it doesn't have many features, there are still lots of things you can do with this set. The inclusion of so many battle droids in one small set, along with some Gungans is very nice, and serves well as a factor for the playability. I imagine anyone of any age can have great fun with this set, too.

Recreate a small battle scene? Check. Well, I could put on an entire list now, but that would be too long, and I'm not going to do that. All in all, this set has a nice playability, regardless of the small amount of features. But that would be with most sets, then.

Minifigures: 9/10 - The minifigures are fantastic. There's a great amount of battle droids, two new battle droid pilots,

and the highlights of the set: the all-new and awesome Gungan Warrior and Jar Jar Binks. They're greatly detailed. But, there could have been one more Gungan, that would've been nice.

Price: 9/10 - I paid EUR 24,99 for this set, and it was definitely worth it. The piece count is 241, so the price I paid was nearly perfect. However, since the price for many people is about EUR/USD 29,99, that should've been lowered a bit. But it was worth it to me, so it's not all that bad, especially not when you consider the newly printed Gungans, and the new shield. There are people who have other thoughts about the price, though.

Overall: 40/50 - A great set with some flaws here and there. I recommend this set to anyone, for the great minifigures and some interesting pieces. The model itself is pretty nice, too. You could also get this set if you want to modify it, but still having the figures and using some parts from the set. Great work, TLC! :thumbsup:

Photos hosted on Flickr.

~ General Magma

Edited December 24, 2010 by KimT

[Stardusty]

Thanks for review!

Really well done!

Set is so cool.

New print for Pilot BD-s is great!

[Masked Builder]

Nice work! Definitely one of the best sellers of next year. Jar Jar is beastly!

[Churchill]

Thanks for the review! I didn't realize that the pilots were printed. I like them much better than the older versions. Thanks for those pics. Seeing the actual build, the carrier itself looks simplistic to me. Nothing spectacular. But, a good review. Thanks!

[Supersonic]

Thanks for a great first review!

The set is a must buy, great figs and the carrier has some good parts at the very least.

[Emperor]

Great review!

The set is great as well, although 30 Euro is too much.

Did you get any other 2011 sets? I'd love to see more reviews from you!

[General Magma]

Thanks all!

The set is great as well, although 30 Euro is too much.

Did you get any other 2011 sets? I'd love to see more reviews from you!

Yeah, €30 is a bit too much, but luckily I was able to pick this one up for just €25.

Nope, sadly not, but might I decide to do so anytime soon, I'll make sure to review it.

~ General Magma

Edited December 13, 2010 by General Magma

[Enpaz]

Thanks for the (very nice) review! You dutch guys are lucky...

This looks like an excellent set and a tremendous army builder! I'm looking forward to picking it off the shelf and taking it home without paying. Just kidding.

Enpaz

EDIT: I think I have to make a special note on the Gungans. Just lovely! And the energy shield is like super-awesome. Great!

Edited December 13, 2010 by Enpaz

[AoNZ]

Thanks for the review.

I have to agree that the new printing makes Jar Jar better than before.

[Darth Jar Jar]

Thanks for the review but I thought the Gungans would be more detailed on the back off their heads

But still the Gungans are great

[Brickdoctor]

Finally, someone who has it does a review!

Minifigs are looking great, and the carrier looks pretty good too, albeit disproportionate.

BTW, I already knew the staff was called a cesta.

I sense a frontpage coming up...

[Brickwilbo]

The Reddish brown Tile 1x6 is't a spare part at all.

It's supposed to be attached behind the two Dark Tan slopes in front of the Droid Carrier.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Brickwilbo

[General Magma]

The Reddish brown Tile 1x6 is't a spare part at all.

It's supposed to be attached behind the two Dark Tan slopes in front of the Droid Carrier.

Ah, so that's why it was there, clears that up.... Thanks for telling me, I must have forgotten a step while taking pictures.

@Brickdoctor: Is there anything that's Star Wars-related that you don't know, then?

~ General Magma

Edited December 13, 2010 by General Magma

[The Lego Man!]

Great review, great set, and great figs! Grrr now I feel compelled to buy this... Anyways great review General Magma.

Edited December 13, 2010 by The Lego Man!

[prateek]

Nice review. This set is a good parts pack IMO, with a Gungan bonus. I hold no value of the Battle Droids.

[lightningtiger]

Thanks 'General Magma' for this review, yep worth it for the two Gungan's ...even though we know what everyones opinion of Jar Jar is !

The droid transport looks good and uses minifig ski's instead of the 2x2 boat bottom pieces, that now gives it a look of being on repulsorlifts.

On to shopping list, add this I will !

May the brick be with you !

[Brickus]

Thanks General Magma for the review, do the Gungan heads come in their own separate bags?

[Flare]

Pretty good review, I didn't learn about the build enough as I wanted to, but still - awesome figures!

BTW, in USD the set will be $24.99, not $29.99.

[SWMAN]

While this looks to be a great set and a great opportunity for some Battle Droid army building, I really wish that they had included some more good guys in this set. I like the fact that it includes two gungans (figures that have been severely underrepresented) but I feel like they also should have included some Naboo Royal Guards. I mean the set is called The Battle of Naboo, and there were more than Gungans in the battle. This would have been a great opportunity for Lego to redesign the Naboo speeder and include some redesigned guards. These are also figures that have been underrepresented which is unfortunate considering how cool they are in the movie.

[Brickdoctor]

@Brickdoctor: Is there anything that's Star Wars-related that you don't know, then?

Well I'm sure there is but can't tell you what it is I don't know because I don't know what I don't know. In order to write what I don't know here, I'd have to know it, and then I wouldn't not know it anymore.

[Ceroknight]

Thanks for the review! I might get this because of the plethora of battle droids since I actually started to look after mine instead of losing them everywhere (only have 2 at the moment )

[The_Customizer]

Nice review! On a nice set too!

Great job on it!

I really want this set now...

[KielDaMan]

Very nice review Gen. Magma, thanks for sharing this! It's a nice way to kickstart the 2011 SW set reviews with this one, this is a really good 'big' BP set for ammassing Gungan soldiers and BDs. Though the droid carrier is expectedly inaccurate in terms of size and details, it's already a good starting model for further modification and improvement.

[StoutFiles]

This is the most bearable set of the January wave because of the new mold, but since it's a set from the worst battle in SW movie history I just can't like it no matter how hard I try. Good review though.

[Big Cam]

Thanks for the review, I can't believe you are already able to grab the 2011 sets. I really like the new detail on those gungans!