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I just bought it in December '08! It's not too late!

I would like a C3PO. I never got that one

Set#: 4485 Name: Mini Anakin's Podracer and Sebulba's Podracer Theme: Star Wars Year: 2003 Pieces: 72 Price: I paid 1000 yen MSP: $4 US Peeron Bricklink Brickset From Amazon I've been looking for these 448~ series sets. I like minis, but also, I want to build that Tie Bomber. Of the 4 sets though, this was the one I was least excited to get. I had the original Anakin's Podracer set, and it was okay, but not a favorite. After building this though, I was pleasantly surprised. The Package The Pieces There weren't any printed pieces or stickers, but there were some interesting pieces. Particularly, the clear stands (made with standard turret molds and dishes) and the sharp-looking orange pieces are welcome new additions to my collection. Leftovers The Promotion As I said above, the set is came with 1/4 of a Tie Bomber. Very successful promotion since that's why I bought the set! The Tie Bomber wing The Finished Product Sebulba's Podracer I really dig this ship. I like the weight of it, the aero-dynamism of it. The colors are beautiful together. Maybe it was the low expectations I'd had, but I said "Wow" when I finished it. I like the way the engine bricks are twisted at 45 degrees to create the arrow shape. The clear underside does a good job of creating the illusion of floating. Anakin's Podracer I liked this one a lot less. The build is simpler, and is the first ship in the instruction book (the first is generally the weaker of the two). It's built in four steps. But, it is relatively accurate to the movie version. All together Overall Design: 9/10 These are difficult ships to design, since they are so sparse. Definitely Sebulba's ship by itself is a 10/10. One thing which might have made it better would be some kind of tube connecting the engines to the ships, though it might have made it clunky. Playability: 10/10 The paired sets are a perfect (LEGO) idea. These ships make up a large part of the Phantom Menace's best scene, and you get two to race against each other. You can hear the DON-DON-DON-DON-DON of the racers just by picking them up! Price: 10/10 Not much money, and you get two cool sets. If it was just Sebulba's racer, I would be fine with the price Build: 8/10 Nothing too unusual, but Sebulba's racer has some interesting techniques on the engines, to create the right angles on it. Average Score: 9/10

Set Name: Destroyer Droid Set Number: 8002 Theme: Star Wars/Technic Year: 2000 Price: No idea Pieces: over 500? Minifigures: N/A Amazon description: Fans of Star Wars: Episode I will recall with excitement the power and near-invincibility of the Destroyer Droid. With more than 500 pieces and fittings, this advanced LEGO kit has everything necessary to build that fearsome automaton. And with guns mounted almost everywhere, the firepower on these cyberfighters is enough to send even the courageous Jedi out looking for another job. Multiple connections, tubes, and fittings really help bring this model to life. Instructions for two different droids are included, but as with all LEGO kits, builders can use their creativity to adapt and change the figures they build. This kit has many small pieces and requires advanced building skills, so older children and experienced LEGO-builders will have the most success with it. May the parts be with you! Peeron link Brickset link Bricklink link My Brickshelf Well, long story short, I was there at the beginning. Long story: I was 23, working at Toys R Us in '99. When the Star Wars Lego sets came out, I nearly lost it, I stared at them daily, trying to convince myself I didn't want them. then I snapped, and ended up getting all the sets at the $50 or less price range (I was poor). This was one of the coolest. I don't love love love it, because its scale is so out of whack to all the other ships, but in and of itself, it's quite amazing. Lego started making a bunch of Technic Star Wars sets, and a lot don't make a lot of sense (Darth Vader, Jango Fett), but the Technic style really suited the Destroyer Droid. I don't know how you could make it with conventional parts. And the functions! But more on that later. I got loads of sets in the first two years, then shortly moved to Japan. Thinking I would stay a few years, I didn't consider bringing my Lego with me. Five years and a marriage later, I've asked my parents to bring it all with them when they visited. They couldn't find where I packed it and brought only the one set this holiday, so maybe I'll drop a big pile of classic reviews next year The Pieces Unlike a poster below, my set came with piles of elastics, and what my parents brought still had an unopened package of elastics in it. There are three special color bands that weren't duplicated. The Instructions/The Build: Ridiculous. 130 pages. They are a bit difficult to make out in places, and the first time, and this most recent time, I think I made a few little mistakes. This is probably the most intricate set I've made, even in comparison to the Republic Gunship or AT-TE, the biggest set I own. This is small fine details. On top of that, it includes a second set of instructions for an AAT! Ridiculous! Maybe it was the Technic thing that made them do it, but I think Lego would really boost playability if all sets, or at least mid-sized and bigger, had secondary builds. It encourages us to take it apart and build it again. I didn't photograph the build, and 2 pieces were missing (hey, my parents brought it halfway around the world! Don't be angry! ) 3/4 view. The missing pieces are the gun turret I replaced in black, and a piece right behind the head I had to flaneggle. Side view. Back view. No full front view? Sorry, camera's put away now A close up of the complex inner workings of the droid. THE AWESOMENESS Grab the back leg, tuck the head in and bush the red button. Flip the arms up. Then lock them back. Tuck the front legs up. And lock them up too. Now we have a roly-poly destroyer droid. Aw, here's a front view! Just dying to roll! Roll this bad boy, and when he hits that red button, he will pop out his front legs, thereby releasing his arms and back leg. A thing of beauty. I remember back in the day, I built it and it didn't work at all, then I rebuilt it, and it worked about 70% of the time. Now, I have hardwood floors, and it doesn't work so well, so maybe I need to tighten a few elastics or something... but I have seen it work. This is a fine piece of work. The Second Build: AAT After the building, a pile of bricks are left over. The gun turret swivels 360 degrees. An elastic trigger lets you lift the side guns. Overall Design: 9/10 The people who designed this were working overtime. The chance that I would ever make this on my own can be charted on a parabolic graph approaching zero. The one point loss is just that it's lonely in my collection, and doesn't fit in. Build: 9/10 Devilishly hard, but very enlightening, and a great use of elastics. Playability: 8/10 Very difficult, but upon success, very satisfying. Plus that second build truly extends the fun. I may just make it now! Minifigures: N/A Price: 9/10 I don't know how much it was 10 years ago in Canadian dollars, maybe $50-60, which in American or Euros, always has been up and down in the last 10 years, but compared to Lego Star Wars prices in yen, well, it is quite a nice price. Total: 9/10 average Conclusion If you don't mind the scale, this is a must have. The first year of Lego Star Wars were a bit chunky and clunky, and this set shows none of that. It's tight and smart, and easily the best of the three released at the time (#2, Pit Droid was pretty cool too, #3, Battle Droid was a bit funny looking). A very sophisticated set. My first review, I hope I covered everything (mods, please ad this to the reviews, maybe ad a poll like "was never interested/a little interested/didn't see it/I got it/I wish I'd got it" if the humor is okay, and let me know if photos need to be resized. My first review, so I'll get it in line where I need to

Set#: 7146 Name: TIE Fighter Theme: Star Wars Year: 2001 Pieces: 169 Minifigs: Stormtrooper, TIE Fighter pilot Price: $20.00 U.S. Peeron Brickset Bricklink From Amazon I got this used last year for a pretty fair price (about $30). Tie Fighters have been the only really consistent release for Lego Star Wars, with 5 variations, plus some re-releases. All of them use the same fundamental building technique, so maybe it would get tiresome, but since this is the original, all the rest are copying this guy. The Instructions Very short book, very large. I'm sure now it'd be made half the height, and twice as long. A real nice touch is the movie scene showing at the top of the page, this set showing a scene from Jedi Only 12 pages for the build, the remaining pages showing what was available at the time (if you could go back in time... ) The Pieces The pieces have a fair amount of repetition to them, but if you ever wanted to get a lot of little blue vents, this is the set for you. Printed pieces There are 5 printed pieces, which is nice. I love the cockpit cover. The Finished Product The stand for this is fantastic, and makes display a lot easier. Cockpit open As far as I know, this isn't how a real TIE fighter cockpit works, but a real model would be too hard on the fingers to put the figure in and out. Closed It looks quite close to the movie version, except for the supports on the wings, which are structurally necessary for a LEGO set. 3/4 view, this looks almost perfect. The only difference from the movie is there is no web shape on the inside of the wing. That would be an easy mod if you wanted it though. A nice simple wing design. Back 3/4 view The back is alright, not spectacular. The shape is good, mildly spherical, but I don't know why it needs those little beige pieces. Overhead, cockpit closed The printed piece looks real nice, and I like the way the blue pieces trace the shape. Open The cockpit isn't overly techy, but it fits the pilot well, and is fairly easy to get in and out of. The stand I love this stand, and I wish more ships had this sort of thing (like the Magnaguard Fighter, or General Grevious' Fighter) since they look a little flat on my bookshelf. I'm using this for the new Vader's TIE fighter right now. The main product This is really cool looking. The minifigures are alright. The Pilot is hard to take pics of though. Here is the stormtrooper next to a 2008 version. The newer one has a much better helmet painting, and the body paint is sharper. (new on the left, old on the right) Just a pinch of yellow sticking out under the helmet of that old trooper. Final verdict Design: 9/10 It is a classic ship, that the company has barely altered in 10 years, compared to the massive overhauls all the other early ships got. It is fairly sturdy too. The only thing I might criticize it for is the wings are slightly wobbly. But, it doesn't show on the stand it comes with. Build: 7/10 The cockpit is fun to make, but the wings are boring and repetitive. Playability: 8/10 Grab it in the back and fly it around! Minifigures: 9/10 Early stormtroopers, early TIE pilot. No complaints for a $20 set. Price: 7/10 It's not fantastic, but fair. Overall: 8/10 This is a nice, simple ship that holds up when compared to current ships, and has quite a legacy in the LEGO Star Wars line. All the other TIEs (Interceptor, Bomber etc.) are nice, but this is THE TIE Fighter, the image people usually get when they think of TIEs. If you can find it for a good price, by all means pick it up. Cheers all.

Set#: 4484 Name: X-Wing Fighter & TIE Advanced Theme: Star Wars Year: 2003 Pieces: 76 Price: I paid 1000 yen MSP: $4 US Peeron Bricklink Brickset Part three in my mini review series! This is of course the X-Wing and TIE Advanced, and came with 1/4 of a mini TIE Bomber. The X-Wing was also released identically in a Kabaya set, which I don't have, so I was glad to get this. I wouldn't mind having two though. If I could go back in time, I'd buy a few of these and make a mini squadron. The Package The Pieces The set has 4 printed pieces, four pieces with almost identical prints, two mirroring the others. The only other unusual pieces were the clear pieces used for the X-Wing TIE cockpits. The Promotion The set has 1/4 of a tie bomber, shown here. The Ships The X-Wing It's a fairly simple build, but I like how the wings snap on. The wings are folded. And open. The overhead view cuts a nice silhouette! Here is a clear view of those printed pieces. And again, it looks great in 3/4 view. The side view is good, but it would be better if it balanced parallel to the surface. The back view looks along the lines of the larger model. One last side view. Is that gray stud Artoo? The TIE Advanced The build on this is really neat, maybe more interesting than the finished product. Some studs stick out at 90 degrees. They're locked in above with a three-stud piece, and those grabbers on either side lock in between studs on the wings to keep the wings steady. All together. The 3/4 view looks nice here too. The blue piece on the back makes a nice engine. The overhead has a nice silhouette too. The Tie Piece It is a wing piece, identical to that of 4485 The extra parts... Not so much, the fewest of the 4484-4487 sets. All together Final verdict Design: 10/10 Between the iconic design of the movie ships, and the accuracy of these mini models, this is a 10. Compared to the other minis of the 4484-4487 series, it feels like equal effort went into both ships, not a big one and a little one. Playability: 10/10 A perfect pair. Have a deep space dog fight with two stable ships. I don't do that myself, but I like to pose them behind my computer, and they look great together. Great. Price: 10/10 If I saw this for $4 I'd buy two or three. Build: 9/10 They both have interesting builds to create ships with unusual angles. The TIE Advanced, though shorter, was the more interesting build for me. Overall: 10/10 This is the set everyone would like to have. The X-Wing and TIE Fighter(s) have been released multiple times by the TLG because their fundamental design and popularity, and this is a solid set that continues the tradition. Any Star Wars/LEGO fan should track this set down.

Set#: 4486 Name: AT-ST & Snowspeeder Theme: Star Wars Year: 2003 Pieces: 76 Price: I paid 1000 yen MSP: $4 US Peeron Bricklink Brickset Part four of four in my mini review series! The AT-ST and Snowspeeder debuted in The Empire Strikes Back and were favorites of mine growing up. I've liked the LEGO models of them in the past, but not been entirely thrilled. This set is about the same, nice but not mind-blowing. The Package The Pieces The pieces here are a little bit Technic style, since both vehicles need some pieces to fit at right or odd angles. There are three printed pieces, but there was a spare of the Snowspeeder's printed piece. The Promotion The set has 1/4 of a tie bomber, shown here. The Ships The Snowspeeder The build on this is really really simple, and it's the smallest mini ship I've seen. It's about two fingers by two fingers big. The tube connects the wings to the ship, and they pretty naturally rest at that angle. I think the tubes would be a little better if shortened. The vents are a nice touch though. The AT-ST This was definitely one of my favorite toys as a kid. Though the set looks nice, it doesn't work so great. It's built in two parts that snap into each other. When built, it appears fairly accurate. The legs jut out at the back a little more than they should, but the head is attached at the front to compensate. The back view looks good too. The set is slightly asymmetrical, with the guns on either side being different. The build of the head is quite interesting. Pieces are locked in at 90 degrees to create the panels on either side. This is clever design. My complaint here is that the legs are sort of unstable. Those joint pieces are not all even, and some are tight and posable and others are loose. I've seen the same in other sets before, and those pieces aren't great to use as stands for even a small set. Also the head is really loose, and if the legs aren't perfectly balanced, it swings around, because it wasn't centered. These pics took twice as long as all the other mini ships because I had to reposition it a lot. Even now, on my shelf, it's facing backwards <leaves and comes back> Fixed! Together, they make a good pair, though I wonder if the proportion difference is accurate. Certainly the big LEGO versions are at a different scale. The Tie Piece The bomber part of the TIE is here, as well as the main support But, as this is the fourth of four, I can now finish the TIE Bomber TIE Bomber The Bomber (or double TIE as I called it as a kid) has a section for the pilot, and one for the bombs, I guess. It uses two printed pieces. The pilot section on the left looks fine, but the clip at the front of the right side seems a little random to me. It is movie accurate. The twin engines on the back look nice. The extra parts... Lots, including a little printed one. The most of the four sets. In action! Final verdict Design: 6/10 The Snowspeeder is super simple, and the AT-ST isn't entirely stable. The points here are for the construction of the AT-ST head, which is quite smart. Playability: 7/10 It recreates a scene from Empire, but actually the AT-ST only appears for two seconds or so. Pairing it up with an AT-AT would have been much much more fun. Price: 10/10 No complaints there. Build: 8/10 The Snowspeeder is a bit boring, but the AT-ST has some interesting techniques I'd like to master. Overall: 7/10 Maybe I'm mini'd out, but this is the weakest of the 4 sets. Possibly TLG felt the same way, and that's why it has some extra pieces, as well as the most important piece of the TIE Bomber.

I'd love to have one of those. I 100% missed that ship.

You'll have to do a MOD and show us how you'd do them better

A lot of these sets are still around... I got a lot of 2006 sets (and a few earlier) for reasonable prices. The two slightly hard to get ones on my Brickset list are 6205, the V1, and 7259, the Arc. Both seem to be grossly overpriced now. the motorized AT-AT and Ultimate Milenium, I want, but I'd have nowhere to put them

Set#: 4487 Name: Mini Slave I and Jedi Starfighter Theme: Star Wars Year: 2003 Pieces: 50 Price: I paid 500 yen MSP: $4 US Peeron Bricklink Brickset This came up at a good price on the auction, so I grabbed it. I have the full size Slave and Starfighter, and I really like getting the minis to go with them. I'm pretty mixed about Episode 2. I was embarrassed watching the movie with my (then) girlfriend when it came out, but that was because of the lame story and romance. The ship design was top notch, and the color schemes fairly modern and retro. The navy and yellow of the Slave and the white and burgundy of the Starfighter feel quite good, better than some of the current Clone Wars color schemes. The Package The Pieces The set has 4 printed pieces. Two for the starfighter, one for the Slave, and one for the Bomber The Promotion This was a Japanese set, and here are the three Kabaya sets released around the same time, advertised within. As well as the other Lego sets of that year. The set has 1/4 of a tie bomber, shown here. The Finished Product The Slave I really like this little ship, it's sleek and simple, but really captures the shape. The Starfighter This thing is a little too simple for my tastes. With standard bricks, I don't know what would make it better, but this is kind of flat and boring. The Tie Piece I'm shopping around to get those other Tie Bomber pieces. The extra parts All together Overall Design: 8/10 I give the Slave a 10/10, the Starfighter a 6/10. There's very little to the Starfighter, it's made in 6 steps, the Slave in 8 steps. Bonus points for both having printed parts, the Starfighter having 2, and the Slave having the large blue piece printed with green and yellow. Playability: 10/10 These mini pair sets were really well thought out, and are really fun. This set recreates part of Episode II and if I were a kid rather than just a kid at heart, I'd be thrilled to have this. Price: 10/10 I was lucky getting it at the price I did, but up to $10 would be really reasonable for this set. Build: 8/10 Really simple, but you can learn a lot about using odd pieces, so, particularly with the Slave, it is a lesson in effective minimalism. Average Score: 9/10

3 They were in the reviewers academy, and I was just moving them over.

Great shots! The harvester looks awesome.

Very nice, looks pro!

I love the Probe Droid, a big improvement on the original. Great!

I'd like to join, I've done 5 reviews in Star Wars

For something for your shelf, the AT-TE is much better. It's just a great looking beast, especially if you have an AT-AP to go with it. But, its legs don't do much, and the insides are bare. From the outside, A+. The Republic Gunship is amazing too, it has a little speeder inside, doors you can open, and great mini-figs, especially Plo Koon and Asa Ventress. It's heavy, so not so easy to swoosh around though. I bought them both, but I'm an adult with a job so it wasn't so difficult. I bought the AT-TE first. Maybe I like it better.

One last try in light of the pics above. Unfortunately, it's gotten so minimal it's become flimsy I think this is it for this one, I had to scrounge pieces from a few different sets to get this shape.

Hey. A few weeks back, watching episode 15 of season 1 of Clone Wars, I saw this ship appear. It made me think of an X-wing quite a lot, so I thought I'd MOC it. All my sets are stored separately, I don't want to mix them up, so I thought this would be a good chance to mess around. I used an A-wing cockpit though. I'm mostly happy with it, but I like it in my hands more than in these pics. Things I'd like to tweak: Make the nose two blocks longer, add a second steering handle, and put something slope-ier on the engines. What do you think? XP <edit> here's the current/final version

More research has revealed this http://www.starwars.com/databank/vehicles/...bike/index.html Freeco bike (CK-6 swoop) I was kind of naive to work from a screen grab The star wars site has amazing resources for everything that appears in the clone wars show, so if I see something good in the next few episodes, I'll look there first

Thanks for the suggestions! I think the grey would look nice, but I don't have the pieces, specifically the engines, though maybe I could do the rest. Still, after a nights sleep, I gave the nose a big tweak. I used a couple pieces from the little rebel gunship, 7668 (forgot the proper title). The narrow nose was a good idea. I'd like to extend it a little bit more so that it could be smoothed out on the top, but it's getting fragile at this size. So, here is the before and after Before And after Cheers all! If you can make it better, please show me

And this is beautiful

From the original in the first post, I've lengthened the nose 2 bricks, and shortened the tail just a bit.

Same as everyone else, that set is utterly fantastic looking. I made a promise to the wife no more than $150 a month on Lego, so I guess that'll be two months... But it will really make me happy... So nice looking.

Agreed. I couldn't get the legs like the pic with just X-wing parts, but I modded my moc Two robot arms and an arm holder. Also, I extended the cockpit a brick, threw in the extra handle, and put that grey piece on top that looks a little more techy. A nice Sunday evening for me