8083 Rebel Trooper Battle Pack REVIEW

[Sisco]

It's a calm and crystal clear day on Hoth. No blizzards or Wampas in sight. The Rebel Scout is just about to head back to base, when he sees something... Imperial Walkers, heading towards Echo Base! The scout sprints back to base to warn Rebel command. Upon arrival of the scout, Rebel Command sends Squads of Rebel troopers, armed with Blaster Rifles and powerful Ice Cutters to combat the Imperial Menace. But will they be enough to defeat the Empire? Find out in this review!

Set #: 8083

Name: Rebel Trooper Battle Pack

Theme: Star Wars

Year: 2010

Pieces: 79

Minifigs: 4

Price: 10.99 USD, 14.99 CAD, 9.99 GBP, 14.99 EUR

Lego

Brickset

Peeron

Bricklink

Flickr Set

The Box

Front. Standard packaging fare, with some Photoshop effects, age suggestion, set number, etc. It's shiny and compact looking. It really makes the set look attractive on a store shelf. That doesn't really work on me much any more, but I found this set in December, along with the Snowtrooper BP and ARC-170 Fighter.

The back depicts the contents of the two battle packs duking it out in a snowy background, presumably Hoth. It has the Push Button Packaging that I hate with a passion.

Pieces

Good selection of pieces. Of course we have the beautiful white pieces. Very usable colors and parts here. 4x8 plates are always useful, as are the 1x2 grill parts.

Interesting Pieces

Left to right: I have no idea what to call this piece. It reminds me of a bar stool, though. Then we have a crate, which is always useful. Then the aforementioned 1x2 grill parts, and the 1x2 bricks with grooves. Then those lovely white slopes, cones, round modified tiles, and that castle looking piece. And the gray castle looking piece.

Instructions

I lost the instructions sometime in March. So here's the downloadable online instructions.

Rebel Trooper Battle Pack Instructions

Clear instructions. Good use of those castle pieces.

Minifigures

Okay. Here we have a nice selection of rebel troops. Left to right: Hoth Officer. Nice mustache. Generic Hoth Rebels. Nice, nice. Lastly... Zev Senesca? WTF? He's here... because...? What's he supposed to pilot? The box clearly depicts the Hoth Officer manning the ice cutter. Also, as lighteningtiger pointed out, he died in a snowspeeder in the movie... Oh, well, might as well build up on your pilots as well.

Backs. No printing on the Troopers, just backpacks. Zev Senesca does have a nice vest looking print, though.

Zev Senesca close up. Nice console on his vest. Very sharp printing.

Close up on the back of Zev Senesca. I've already talked about this print, so I'll just let the picture do the talking here.

Ice Cutter

This is certainly an interesting choice for a Lego set, even if it is in a battle pack. Ice Cutter. It has a nice shape to it, I suppose. It's a little unfamiliar. Never seen in The Empire Strikes Back. Only in a deleted scene. Honestly I would have preferred a Snowspeeder, or maybe a few turrets. I suppose that TLG was trying to introduce new vehicles to the franchise? Whatever.

Front of the Ice Cutter. Good shape. From this vantage you can see the modified circular tile that makes the ice cutter have the illusion of floating.

Back of the ice cutter. The seat looks extremely unprotected. Can you say Sniper Bait? Seriously, this is worse than Battlefront's Speeders!

Set in Full

Nice looking set all together. Good minifigures and a generic vehicle.

The Final Verdict

Design: 7/10. The ice cutter has a very nice shape. But then again, there's the horrid driver's seat. Then the flick fires. I don't know, it has things that I like and things that I hate.

Build: 5/10. Boring. Generic build, seen it a thousand times. It looks nice when it's done, but still. The only interesting thing IMO was the crate inside the ice cutter itself, making a nice storage space. Besides that, very generic, boring build.

Playability: 8/10. Good playability. It has four minifigures with guns, and a tank looking thing. The pilot is a different color than the rest of the Minifigs, so young children can make the Hoth Troopers gang up on the pilot.

Minifigures: 10/10. Gotta give props to the Minifigures. Absolutely beautiful. Plus there are four of them, and they all have weapons and helmets. My favorite would have to be the Hoth Officer, because of his Brown 'stache.

Price: 7/10. Meh, the price really could be a bit better. I probably should not complain, with all the contributing factors of inflation and whatnot. You get some great pieces and minifigs, most in a lovely white color, along with that bar stool piece. But I still hate that the prices are on the rise.

Overall: 6/10. Fair set. I probably wouldn't buy it right now, seeing as I'm turning to the dark side (city). Star Wars is just getting old. I know it's a great money maker for TLG and Lucas, but it's high time that this theme died. It's had a good run, but I'm tired of high prices and generic builds. This is the last year that I am buying Star Wars sets. I'll be focusing on city mostly now.

Parting Shot

So, what do you pilot?

Edited August 23, 2010 by KimT

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for the review 'cralegoboy' - I have one of these sets and the ice cutter is a handy addition to the rest of my Hoth gear....but I must say the Zev figure is misplaced.....he dies in a snowspeeder before the final ground attack by the Empire beings - shot down by an AT-AT.

Anyway, it's a great set to build up your snow troopers and pilots too !

I'm a conformist! !

[Sisco]

Thanks for the info, 'lighteningtiger'! I shall add that piece of damning evidence to the review at once.

[brickfoot]

another great review.

[Praiter Yed]

Thanks for the review Cralegoboy - I bought this just for the figures. I haven't even built the Ice Cutter, but as you say it has some useful parts (maybe the crate is for storing ice - I hear Hoth ice is especially good for G&T's). Personally I think the new style rebel head-gear makes their foreheads look huge - but nicely shaped goggles. Zev Senesca does seem a bit random, although he's pretty generic so a cheap way to stock-up on rebel pilots.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Praiter Yed

[Clonetrooperjerv0412]

Excellent review!!

[Forresto]

An awesome review of one of the best battle packs made.

[Bolingbroke]

wouldve been even better without the inclusion of senesca. he was in that year's wampa set too iirc.

[Thorpe]

It's still an awesome battle pack too.