Review: 75001 Republic Troopers vs. Sith Troopers

[Oky]

In 2007, Lego introduced a great new concept into their annual lineup of sets, the battle pack, and they have produced various ways of building up your minifigure armies ever since. But after a while, even clones and Stormtroopers tend to get boring, so they decided to dabble in lesser known parts of the Star Wars universe, such as the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, which became free-to-play last November. Was this a smart move? Is the game popular enough to warrant a battle pack based on it? And most importantly, should you buy it? Perhaps this review will answer some of these questions for you.

Set Number: 75001

Name: Republic Troopers vs. Sith Troopers

Theme: Star Wars

Subtheme: The Old Republic

Year of Release: 2013

Pieces: 63

Minifigs: 4

Price: $12.99 USD

S@H description:

Help the Republic troopers to fend off the Sith troopers!

The Republic troopers are under attack! Fire their blasters as you battle the red and black Sith troopers and their hover speeder with dual flick missiles! Recreate epic battle scenes from the Knights of the Old Republic video game in your own living room! Collect the never-before-featured Republic trooper helmet! Includes 4 minifigures with assorted weapons: 2 Republic troopers and 2 Sith troopers.

Brickset Bricklink Brickshelf S@H

The Box

The box is small and almost square, just like every other set in this price range this year, and features the new green Yoda design. It goes well with the green hills that make up the background which I believe is supposed to be Alderaan, as seen in the

. It also has the logo of the game in the lower left corner to let people know what the set is based on.

The back features a very similar scene along with several views of the speeder and of how it fires its flick missiles. Most of these images are somewhat redundant in my opinion, but at least it's not boring. There is also a teaser image for The Yoda Chronicles. TLG is really trying to push the popularity of the little green Jedi master this year, aren't they?

Contents

Inside the box there are two bags, the instructions booklet, and a sticker sheet. I think this is the first time that there are stickers in a battle pack, or any $10 Star Wars set for that matter. Also, look at how relatively empty these bags are. I know this is a small set, but I can't help but feel ripped off already. Oh well, let's reserve our judgement for the end.

Here is a random instructions page. There are only 14 pages of instructions and they are pretty easy to follow. The last few pages show a lineup of all the minifigures and sets of the winter 2013 wave and a code that unlocks something on the Lego Star Wars website relating to The Yoda Chronicles.

Even though there is only a small number of parts in this set, there are a few noteworthy ones among them. The obvious one is the 6x6 round corner slope which has appeared in only a nine other sets, of which only two have it in dark gray. Another interesting piece is this new plate with flick fire missile holder. This one is all over the 2013 sets and it does help incorporate the missiles less conspicuously, so I'm not complaining about it. The third is the 2x2 hinge plate in red, which is fairly new and rare and has only appeared in two other sets in this color. All of these pieces are pretty useful.

Minifigures

There are two troopers of each faction in this set. The Republic troopers are wearing identical armor and have the orange markings that all regular troopers in the game have as opposed to the red special forces markings that Jace Malcom has. Their helmets are a new mold and exclusive to this set for now. They are quite detailed and even have leg printing. Both of them come pretty heavilly armed too, which is only fair given that they don't get a vehicle like the Sith troopers. One of them has a long blaster rifle while the other has heavy gun. It is not said what kind of gun it's supposed to be, and it doesn't look like any particular gun that I know from the game, but it captures the general look of a heavy gun, so I guess that's good enough.

They have back printing as well. Maybe it's just me, but the back of their heads seems a bit too exposed by the opening under their helmet. Other than that, they look terrific.

When you remove the helmets, you'll find that they have different heads. Oh hai there, Endor Rebel! What are you doing in the Old Republic era? Seriously, it's pretty odd that they chose to include the same head they used for one of the good guys in a battle pack last year. The other trooper seems very familiar too as he has the same head as the imperial officer in the Hoth battle pack and the Hoth Rebel from the latest AT-AT set and many other generic guards in other licensed themes, including the hapless security guard in Super Heroes.

The Sith troopers are even better than the Republic ones. There are two variants: one is the same black one you get in the Fury-Class Interceptor, except with leg printing this time, and a red variant, the kind that you encounter on the planet Korriban. Their designs look similar, but there are subtle differences. Variation is always nice, and the metallic silver printing on these figs makes them look so shiny and cool. The details on their helmets is incredible. The black one gets a blaster pistol and the red one gets a regular blaster.

Their helmets seem to protect their necks much better than those of the Republic troopers. The stripe on their helmets goes all the way down the back and they have printing on the back of their torso too. Again, you can see some subtle differences here.

And under their helmets... What's this? More Super Heroes heads? I knew Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor owned an empire, but I never knew it was a Sith Empire. What happened? Did Lego have excess heads from the first Super Heroes sets left over and decided to put them into this battle pack or is it a coincidence that the most generic heads can be found in that theme? Either way, it's odd to see these three DC comics characters in Star Wars uniforms. The funny thing is that the instructions don't even tell you which head goes onto which body, except that the security guard head goes onto one of the Republic Troopers. I'm assuming this was done in order to encourage interchanging the heads to create personalized troopers, kinda like in the videogame itself, which is a pretty good idea.

Here's a side view so that you can see all the great details on the side of both helmets.

Comparing them to some reference images, they are all very spot-on.

There is not much to show from the build, so I'll just skip to...

The Finished Speeder

After only about two minutes of building, this is what you get. It's actually not a bad looking speeder. It looks kinda like a mix between a STAP and an AAT. It also reminds me of the old Stingray vehicles from Aquazone. Ah, nostalgia.

I couldn't find this speeder on Wookieepedia, and this is the best reference image of it I could find. I have seen it several times in the game, but it always had blue markings like in the following picture rather than the red ones on the Lego version, but perhaps that's just because I haven't been playing the game for long yet. Aside from the color scheme, it's about as accurate as you can get with Lego.

Most of the details on the front are made up by the stickers and I doubt it would look quite as good without them, so applying them is recommended.

On the side of the handle bar it has a clip to hold the pilot's blaster so that he can grip the bar with both hands. Safety comes first!

On the back it has two thrusters and a small platform for the pilot to stand on.

Looking at it from the top, it looks nice and aerodynamic.

The Complete Set

Looking at the finished product, you can't help but feel underwhelmed. The minifigures sure are nice, and the speeder and brick-built blaster are decent too, but there's just so little there, even for a battle pack. But does there really need to be? I'm still not sure. Let's go on to the final ratings.

Ratings

Design: 4/5 - To be fair, the speeder is pretty accurate and looks good. The design even made me a bit nostalgic. It's nothing extraordinary though.

Build: 1/5 - Very short and unsatisfying. It almost feels like a polybag model, plus you have to apply stickers. Ugh!

Minifigs: 5/5 - These minifigs are amazing. They have an incredible amount of detail, new helmet molds, and leg printing. The fact that three of the heads are from the Super Heroes theme and two of them have appeared in SW battle packs before is a bit odd, but at least you get four different, generic heads that you can use to customize your troopers, a feature that I have been hoping for in battle packs for a while now.

Playability: 3/5 - Pretty basic for a battle pack. You have a speeder that you can swoosh around and some missiles to flick, and the fact that you get two troopers from each faction in this set allows you to play out several battle scenarios right out of the box.

Parts: 4/5 - There aren't many parts there, but most of them are useful and some of them are fairly rare, plus you get four different blaster types, so overall not bad.

Price: 1/5 - 63 pieces for $13 is pretty bad. It even tops the terrible price-to-piece ration of the Geonosian Starfighter from 2011! But why? Were the new molds and prints on the minifigs so expensive that they had to reduce the amount of bricks so drastically? I don't get it.

Overall: 4/5 - This is a tough one. What you get in the set is great: four incredible minifigures which are perfect for army building, four different kinds of weapons, and a neat speeder. The only thing that keeps it from being a great battle pack is the high price and the building experience (or the lack thereof). While I would recommend this set based on its pros, it will probably end up not selling well. Not only is it too expensive, but it's based on a videogame that not many care about. TLG could have easily fixed this problem by including another speeder for the Republic Troopers or by lowering the price which would have made the set more appealing, especially to people who are not into SWTOR, but as it is, I don't think many will buy it. If you see it on sale, I'd say pick at least one up because even if you have never even played SWTOR, you will still be able to appreciate the high effort that went into designing these minifigs and might be able to use the parts for MOCs. And if you do know about SWTOR, you will appreciate it even more.

Well, that's all I have to say about it. I hope this review was helpful to you and wish you a happy new year.

Billionaire Cosplay by Oky - Space Ranger, on Flickr

[Ceroknight]

Thank you for the review!

Lego released so many amazing sets recently, I can't justify myself buying this one

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for this review 'Oky', now it seems to me a set that is designed to draw in the TOR fandom crew into Lego collecting !

It's the figures that makes the set.....the speeder is cute and cool at the same time.....price vs part count, yeah a bit odd though it does have those highly detailed minifig parts.

You know I could swear one of those Republic troopers...the one on the right was Han Solo....except for the black eye brows....maybe a distant relation eh ?

I was thinking of one SW set this year, but maybe two as who knows they may never do these again.

[Clone OPatra]

Nice review!

This set is a tough one for me just because the figures don't go with anything else I have. They look terrific on their own terms, but they don't go with the majority of SW stuff because they come from a completely different time period. That said, they could be used for purposes other than SW since they're not iconic, widespread 'SW looks' like Clones and Stormtroopers are.

I really don't get the complaints/comments about the heads. In older times, these would've had either blank flesh (or yellow) heads, or blank black heads. Getting actual faces, which are so much more useful for MOCing purposes, is terrific! Yes, LEGO faces are sometimes designed for specific characters, but they can be used for anything! Especially faces like these, which don't particularly look like anything anyway. Using Harry Potter's face, scar and all, would be much more difficult. However, for nearly anything else, it's nice that LEGO can be multi-purpose within its own sets (the old Leia and Anakin faces were used for female soccer players, after all).

[Oky]

You know I could swear one of those Republic troopers...the one on the right was Han Solo....except for the black eye brows....maybe a distant relation eh ?

Hm, you're right, he does look a bit like Han Solo in Stormtrooper disguise.

I really don't get the complaints/comments about the heads. In older times, these would've had either blank flesh (or yellow) heads, or blank black heads. Getting actual faces, which are so much more useful for MOCing purposes, is terrific!

Yes, I definitely agree, it's great to get printed heads instead of just plain unprinted ones, and it's even better that they are all different. I'm not complaining about it, I'm just saying it's funny to see Loki or Lex Luthor in Sith Trooper armor and that it's an odd coincidence that three of them are from the same theme. Of course new prints would have been better, but since they wouldn't necessarily have needed faces to begin with, that's quite excusable. I just thought it was funny and merely made those comments for comedic effect. Sorry if it didn't come over as funny.

[Bobsy]

I actually think it's a shame that all four troopers are white, especially as in-game the developers went to great lengths to ensure ethnicities were varied across both factions. It would be a great way to get dark-skinned heads, especially since troopers are great for swapping heads around with anyway.

[DarthBrickus]

Thanks for the review!

63 pieces really is ridiculously low, especially considering last years excellent Elite Clone Trooper Batlle pack had 93 parts.

The worst part: like most Battle Packs, its 16.99 € in Germany, equalling 22.40$.

I guess these will be discounted heavily later this year.

[J.V.D.]

I got this set a couple of weeks ago at a kind of "introduction" price. To my surprise they were about 2 euros cheaper then the 2012 Endor and the 2011 Mandalorian & Clone Troopers battlepacks most shops here still have in store. Weird, I am used to see prices inflate each year, so you will not hear me complain..

It is true that besides the excelent minifigures there is not much to be found in this pack, but then again.. isnt it that the purpose of battlepacks after all? Sell minifigures, with a little (symbolic) build thrown in, in order not to violate the license agreements with Lucas? It is true, sometimes we do receive some nice little vehicles, mostly (BARC) speeders... but that isn't a constant througout battlepack history. Many times it are just a handfull of bits and pieces to throw into the parts bin too. Remember the 2010 Hoth battlepacks..

As a side remark; I did buy at the same time the Clones vs Droidekas battlepack, and it did feel a bit heavier.. though of course this can be due to the fact that 2 of the "figs" are brick build.

Anyway, for me this pack was a good oportunity to get some of those exelent Sith troopers. ( have been looking a couple of times already at the 9500 Fury Interceptor. I am convinced by its quality but not yet by its 100euro price tag). Though being mainly an OT fan and never having played the game, I see them rather as part of my scifi then SW collection. Wouldnt be surprised neither if at least one of the Republic troopers ends up in my sons Clone army.. With all the different colors and uniform designs generated in the CW line, they will blend in perfectly.

PS: I think this isn't the first battlepack to contain stickers Oky... if I remember well the 2008 7667 Stormtroopers & 7668 Rebel troopers had some (small) stickers for the faction emblems too.

[Metallic11]

Thank for the review, I some how really like this set and will try and pick up multiples but the worst think I can see about this set is the exposed republic trooper helmets...

[Commander_Rob]

Nice review, though I'm kind of divided on the set itself. The figures are nicely done, sure and speeder isn't all that bad, but especially with the hefty markup this side of the pond, it's not a lot for the money.

[...]

That said, they could be used for purposes other than SW since they're not iconic, widespread 'SW looks' like Clones and Stormtroopers are.

[...]

I'll have to disagree. The Sith troopers are fairly non-Star Warsey, besides the Vader influences, but the Republic troopers could just as well be yet another Clone Trooper variant.

Though I guess that's more an Old Republic issue than a Lego issue.

[KurttKrueger]

Thanks for the review Oky, I'm looking forward to picking this set up. Here's hoping the rumour about the Jedi Defender for later in the year is true.

I have to ask though, what server do you play on? I'm on EU Red Eclipse here.

[Faefrost]

The price per piece doesn't bother me quite as much with these battle packs. I think of it less as price per brick and more as $3.25 per incredibly cool and detailed minifig. Which is better than the CMF pricing. The speeder is just a bonus to get around the action figure clause of their licensing.

[Csacsa234]

I bought it finally and it was a bit disappointing. The speeder is very inaccurate, those curve parts weren't the best choice for the speeder, however I don't have other ideas how to make it better... But the minifis The new dark red sith trooper is breathtaking, so beautifully printed and the colors are great, the other soldier weren't new to me but he got nice leg printings. Then the Republic Troopers are excellent too, but I had some problem with the machine gun, it alweys poped off from the hands of the trooper, like it was just a little shorter than the distance between the figs 2 hands maybe I'm just lame . Anyway it's my fav BP, and I'm really on for TOR sets.

[Debricker]

Nice review, to bad i bought the set before looking at this

[Only Sinner]

I can't get enough of this BP. The minifigs are generic enough to make a nice army. Not the most cost effective way to do it, but still one of the better BP's available.

[Oky]

I have to ask though, what server do you play on? I'm on EU Red Eclipse here.

I'm on one of the US servers. Not sure which one though, sorry.

I had some problem with the machine gun, it alweys poped off from the hands of the trooper, like it was just a little shorter than the distance between the figs 2 hands maybe I'm just lame .

You're not "lame", you just have to adjust the space between the two handles by pulling out the one in the back a bit.

I can't get enough of this BP. The minifigs are generic enough to make a nice army. Not the most cost effective way to do it, but still one of the better BP's available.

Yeah, that's true from a minifigure standpoint, especially if you don't count droids as minifigures.

[nukescientist]

Thanks for the review. I find TOR sets are quite good as compared to previous expanded universe sets.

[BigJoe]

Dudes I have 2 of these sets, the Sith fury-class interceptor, and the Republic striker-class star fighter

[Rufus]

Dudes I have 2 of these sets, the Sith fury-class interceptor, and the Republic striker-class star fighter

Hi BigJoe, and welcome to Eurobricks!

Please note that we don't generally encourage bumping older threads unless you have something positive to add about the subject. I'm sure you're proud of your collection, but please remember that not everyone will be interested!

Please bear this in mind, and enjoy your time on EB.

Thanks!

[Only Sinner]

This BP is on sale at Meijer here for ten bucks. I just bought eight more! Build up those armies, guys.

[BigJoe]

Hi BigJoe, and welcome to Eurobricks!

Please note that we don't generally encourage bumping older threads unless you have something positive to add about the subject. I'm sure you're proud of your collection, but please remember that not everyone will be interested!

Please bear this in mind, and enjoy your time on EB.

Thanks!

yo man srry. I really love them and i thought tht since we were talking bout tht set I would mention tht i have the other Old Republic sets. but this set is the bomb

Thank you for the review!

Lego released so many amazing sets recently, I can't justify myself buying this one

Dude it is totally worth it. When I heard it was coming out I thought "O boy here's another set tht most people wont like," but I bought two of them and I intend to bye many many more. Though the Sith troopers are really Sith Droids, but o well I still love them

[Bubble]

Well, I might get one or two, but I don't give a crap for the video game. I think this fits in with the other two SWTOR sets for a couple reasons: overpriced, good minifigures, and I've seen both of the other sets built in real life, and those seem too small. My friend brought his attack fighter to my house so I could see what it looks like and this what I actually said: "Are you serious? I've been mainly focusing on Technic for a couple months now, and you can get a set five dollars more than this for at least a hundred more pieces, and a finised set with more features that's double the size of this!" I was talking about the 9394 jet plane, and they actually have couple things in common, they are both......um......RED! That's it!

I've given it more thought about liking the game. Plus, I just got this set yesterday and it is a lot cooler than I thought.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Bubble