Review: 7257 Ulimate Lightsaber Duel

[mutley777]

Star wars Revenge of the Sith ended with the Ultimate Lightsaber Duel between Obi-wan kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

Lego obviously wanted to cash in on the huge cinamatic moment, so came up the 7257 Ultimate Lightsaber Duel set.

Ok, that may have sounded a little harsh so lets have a look the set.

The box

Front

Probably one of the most talked about thing TLC has ever done was Light-up-Lightsaber minifigs.

Love them or hate them, it was a crazy idea to put something with a small battery life on the front of the box, so any little fingers could press them over and over!

The back, showing some play features.

Top. More play features and the minifigs.

Side

Instuctions

These are quite a bit tatty, as I am reviewing a second hand set not the MISB boxed one pictured.

A random page

The page showing all the play features

This page shows some pretty interesting alternative models.

The 2 light-up minifigs. The battery is located in the torso with a small wire inside the molded arm to the lightsaber.

The torso and legs are glued and the molded arm and ligthsaber is all one part. This is also non-removeable.

Here you can see the figs with the Lightsabers lit up. My Obi-wan is starting to lose his battery power and the batteries can not be replaced .

The build of the set is quite straight forward but if you have seen the film you will know what part they are trying to recreate.

The platform is quite good comes with some good trans orange parts.

The back part of the platform is quite simple with a collapsible part to spill the trans orange round bricks on someone.

The floating platform

The full set looks quite impressive considering this was a £25-$30 price tag when it came out!

The minifig slidy-arm-things work ok, as long as you have them flat on the platform surfaces. If you lift them up to high the figs are top heavy and end up upside-down.

The set is very good for recreating some cool jedi fight scenes.

The full set overview.

When this set came out it was widely slammed as a rubbish. I think over time, it has grown on me and now looks like a very good value set.

Second hand prices for this set are still not to bad on ebay but the MISB ones don't look like such a bargin.

Edited June 7, 2011 by KielDaMan
Indexed

[Big Cam]

Great review, quite honestly this set stinks in my eyes. Lego building play set type areas just doesn't work for me, so much gets wasted on useless structure. I feel this way about the Home one set as well. I still appreciate them and think it's cool that Lego tackled them, but I'd personally never want it.

The review on the other hand looks great, nice clear pictures and a good layout of the whole set. I have a better view of the set from your review, but personally I still don't want it.

[Mr Man]

I voted poor. Its a rubbish set pandering to playset people like Home One and Endor Shield Bunker, but unlike those this fails miserably, plus it has not 1 but 2 bloody LUL figs.

Thanks for the review though mutley777, it fills up the review index, and is still a good review even though it's a megablocking set.

[Brickdoctor]

Nice review, mutley. I kinda like this set. I did get to build and play with one before even though I don't own it, and the playability works pretty well. The design is quite simplistic, IMO, but this set to me does what it's supposed to. Not that I'd ever buy it, though. As for the LULs, I don't like those at all, but the batteries should be replaceable. I know you can access them by pushing into the holes under each armpit and then prying off the back of the torso.

[gratefulnat]

Thanks for the review!

The set is very good for recreating some cool jedi fight scenes.

This was one of the few Star Wars sets I got for my son and not myself ( ), and with the kids playing out scenes it just , way too cumbersome and clunky. But there are some nice parts to recreate the fight scene.

I know you can access them by pushing into the holes under each armpit and then prying off the back of the torso.

This is true, and you can replace them, but it isn't particularily easy if you want your figures to stay scratch free (at least it wasn't for me).

All in all I don't think this set really worked, but it has some nice parts.

[XimenaPaulina]

Thanks for sharing this review for this set mutley, finally making its way to the Review Index. Though I'm also in agreement with the others that this is one of the low points in the history of SW sets. I understand TLG making this sort of as an "experimental" set but now they know that these Wipeout-type of playability will not be a favorite among fans.

[Fuzzylegobricks]

Great review! I may have to get one to customize, I remember the city line made a police flashlight similar to this.

The playability is also quite large like in the basketball and soccer lines.

[TheDarkness]

Great review, but this is one very, very ordinary set

[Blackknight112]

Thanks for the review. I must say this one of the most awfull lego star wars sets IMO.

[Darth CJ]

Very nice reveiw! How much was the set when you bought it?

[mutley777]

Thanks for the comments guys. I think you have to consider that this set was cheaper to buy than the new Ewok attack set (In the UK anyway)! So even with all it's issues, it should be forgiven for it's low price point. If this set had been £45-$50 set, then yes It would have been a huge let down.

Very nice reveiw! How much was the set when you bought it?

I bought both for UK retail. £25

[Siegfried]

I'm still unsure on if I like this set or not, but I must admit the alt models are comparatively good!

[Cpt. Dan]

Thanks for the review. I must say this one of the most awfull lego star wars sets IMO.

I would have to agree. When I look at SW sets, or any Lego sets in general this one and the pod racer bucket stick out as an attempt by the company to capture another market or create demand for a new product. Not my thing, I would rather have imagined this as a kid or enjoy the versatility of better pieces or figures as an adult.

[Vindicare]

The kids look like they're being forced to play with this set. Given the comments by most, I think that may be true.