YavinBase

7998 has a sleeper cab. This is a great set with a lot of play potential. Lego gets an A+ on this one. I'm loving the 8 wide semi!

When I first heard about the Ewok Village, I couldn't envision how Lego was going to go about creating such as set. From the pictures, I don't see how Lego could have done much better in its delivery. This will most definitely become part of my Lego collection! Bravo, Lego, Bravo!!!!

It's predecessor (6210) had stickers too.

I have strictly purchased OT LEGO sets since 2004, but it will be very hard for me to resist leaving 75021 Republic Gunship and 75017 Duel On Geonosis on the shelves at my local LEGO store. I have always had a soft spot for the RGS, so when the 2008 version came out, I was disappointed since it was the CW version. I don't see me passing up the 2013 version. The minifigures are well done (Anakin is the weakest in terms of likeness to Hayden; Obi-Wan and Padme mirror Ewan and Natalie closer in likeness, respectively). Of course I'll have to get another clone pilot and some clone gunners to properly man the RGS. The main thing that draws me to the Geonosis duel is Count Dooku. LEGO did a remarkable job making Dooku look like Christopher Lee. Yoda is also a winner. Plus, with the minifigures in the RGS, it seems like you can't have 75021 without 75017, so what the heck, I'm all in on these two sets, even though AOTC was my least favorite film of the PT. With that said, I was initially Gung Ho on getting 75020 Jabba's Sail Barge. Upon further review, the new version is unfortunately smaller than its predecessor. I can live with a shorter length (7 studs by my count), but a width of 8 studs is unacceptable (the 2006 version has a width of 10 studs). It's hard to understand why LEGO would make this set smaller. The minifigures are well done, but it would be difficult for me to purchase a $120.00 set just for the minifigures. I already own the new desert skiff and Jabba's palace and I plan on getting the Rancor pit, so it would make sense in a way to make the purchase to complete the quartet of Jabba ROTJ sets. I'll have to reserve making a final decision until the reviews of 75020 start rolling in after August.

The sail barge is excellent!! I knew from the preliminary photos that the sail barge was destined for greatness. I am looking forward to seeing additional photos. LEGO, you can definitely count on me purchasing one!

This. Jamesn, I came to the same conclusion as you did. My gut tells me that the new sail barge will be at least as good as well as popular compared to 6210.

I purchased 9496 Desert Skiff on September 1, 2012 at the LEGO store in Cincinnati, Ohio. I also got $10.00 off by redeeming my LEGO VIP points so total cost after tax was $15.96!

This set is such a gem, which is exemplified by the review. I had no doubt that I was getting this set prior to the review and the review is making harder to wait for it to come out in the USA.

41% of my collection is SW. I thought it would be higher. The balance of my collection is City and Classic Castle.

Good review cei. Thank you. I own 4502 and 6212 and I would like to add Porkins X-Wing to my Battle of Yavin Squadron. However, I cannot look past a few things. One is the orientation of the astromech socket. Why couldn’t the designer maintain the orientation as in the previous versions? Yes, I know the astromech’s head can be positioned as if it was looking forward, but it still bothers me that the astromech socket is incorrect. I may download the instructions to see if there is an easy mod, but with most mods a lot of readjusting may need to be done in order to correct the orientation of the astromech socket without compromising the structural stability of the ship. The other thing I cannot look past is the fact that the Red Five marking is a sticker. It was a printed tile in 4502 and 6212. With the increase in cost one would think that the markings would be printed, even the 1x1 tile. I can see the engine intakes as being a sticker, maybe, but the markings??? C’mon LEGO, I expect better based on the cost. However, if I was to purchase this version I would use the Red Five marking from my 6212 since I use 6212 as Red Two for Wedge, and I can dig up a 1x1 red tile to make it Red Six for Porkins Another minor thing I noticed is that Luke does not have the orange glare shield on his face like Porkins does. It’s not a big deal, just an observation. On the positive side, the wing guns are better than 4502 and 6212 and the rear of the fuselage is more detailed. And you get Porkins and a new astromech. If I was new with SW LEGO I would purchase the new X-Wing without a doubt, but I might have to take my chances and BL Porkins and the new astromech, but the cost for them alone may leave me to do without. Cei, if you can post pictures of the new X-Wing next to 4502 and/or 6212 it would be appreciated.

7956 Ewok Attack 8084 Snowtrooper Battle Pack I obtained both from the LEGO Store in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 6, 2011.

In my opinion, 7879 lacks the 'WOW!' factor. 4483 (AT-AT), 4504 (Mill. Falcon), 8038 (Endor Attack), 10179 (UCS Mill. Falcon), and 10188 (USC DS) are a few examples of sets that hit high on the ‘WOW!’ factor chart. The 2006 sets (6206 through 6210 in particular) in which I consider 2006 as the renaissance year of SW LEGO, even though the sets were mostly ships, I could only say to myself ‘hey, these sets are pretty slick. I am definitely going to buy these!’ Unfortunately I don’t get this vibe with 7879. 7879 reminds me of 7956 (Ewok attack) in which a bunch of LEGO bricks were hastily put together with the addition of a few never released before minifigures, except on a larger scale. This is coming from a pro-LEGO consumer who collected classic space and castle sets as a child and now collects LEGO SW and City sets as an AFOL. I agree that the great thing about LEGO, especially LEGO sets, can be modded in order to provide some sort of satisfaction to the end user, whether it is better playability, aesthetics, etc. I am an SW OT fan and collect only the LEGO SW OT sets. However, I think that LEGO has been ‘hitting the ball out of the park’ so to speak on the recent past and current PT sets, so much that is has been and will be tempting for me to leave them on the shelves. I just hope that LEGO uses some of their PT elbow grease on the design of future OT sets.

Thank you for the detailed review DarkFader. Although I have viewed this set as a glorified battle pack based on the poor concoction of a tree, the tree actually doesn't look that bad in the review photographs. I am going to buy this set regardless due to the inclusion of two Ewoks and I'm always game for more Imperial troops and speeder bikes. Back printing on the Biker Scout would have been a bonus. I am curious as to why the Biker Scouts don't have back printing like their Stormtrooper cousins.

Thanks for the good review. IMO I feel that LEGO didn't do a good job on designing this set, especially the cab of the trailer. The windshield is too tall, and the steering wheel sets too high. LEGO has been including doors on the recent releases of their trucks, but this doesn't have any. There are also no exhaust pipes. The best design feature is the side view mirrors. The only LEGO trucks that I own are 7900 and 7998 and they have spoiled me. I feel that these trucks are more accurate than their successors since the cabs fit two minifigures comfortably and the tire heights and cab heights seem to be more in scale with the minifigures.

I wonder why LEGO reduced the size and greebling of the new AT-AT. Based on the photographs on Brickset it appears that it doesn’t have seats for troops in the main hull, and there is no sign of a speeder bike. Another disappointing observation is that the view port is a sticker and not printed. The only positives that I can see are the upgrades to Han and Luke. Someone in a previous thread mentioned printing on C-3PO’s eyes. I thought it was something reflecting off the eyes in the photograph, but it could be printing I suppose. The figure upgrades are not enough to justify purchasing in my opinion unless you don’t have 4483 or the motorized version, or if one is purely a LEGO SW completist. In my opinion it's too bad LEGO didn't reduce the minifigure count and delete the laser dish in order to increase the AT-AT piece count thus making it more similar to 4483. I am looking forward to seeing actual side by side comparison photographs of the new AT-AT to 4483 from some of the members here.

Based on DutchRebel's post, it appears that there could be 1X2 modified plates with click hinges (circled in red in the photograph) And it is possible that this is independent of the floor of the cockpit, meaning that there is the cockpit floor, and then the ramp.

It appears that the wings in the video with the designer are less flat than the Brickworld video based on where the Technic bricks on the wings line up with the studs on the fuselage. Hopefully the wings can be deployed further in order to match up with how they should be in flight mode in ROTJ. Hopefully the cranks can be removed and inserted freely as necessary to play and display the shuttle.

For once I am glad that I was wrong...wrong about the cockpit being only a two seater. Four seat cockpit FTW!! Rear laser cannon...check!! I understand the reason for no hull interior (an interior would compromise the structural stability of the shuttle) and not being able to deploy/retract the wings simultaneously (one mechanism most likely would cause too much strain as cavegod has mentioned). Obviously I would prefer these options to be available, but I can see past them and I am okay with it. The only thing that I have a gripe with is not having a boarding ramp. I was wrong about this too. Having a ramp that would serve as a decorative piece at a minimum would be good enough for me, even if it didn't lead to an interior. But, I can see past this as well. This shuttle will be transporting my Imperial dignitaries and Rebel Scum by the end of this year!

This set keeps on getting better and better based on the pictures! For me this set is the crown jewel of LEGO SW 2010. It looks like there is only room for two figures in the cockpit since it looks like the top header above the windshield is too deep to fit additional figures and it looks like it would be a tight fit to accommodate more figures due to the length of the cockpit beyond the header. I am okay with this as the shuttle is amazing nonetheless. I wonder if there is a rear facing cannon (my gut tells me yes based on the other details). It appears that there might be a boarding ramp based on one of the pictures from gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/5565333/the-new-gigantic-lego-imperial-shuttle), although there doesn't appear to be much head clearance beneath the nose of the shuttle for figures to 'walk' up and down the ramp. It doesn't look like the main hull has an interior, unless there is a removeable access at the rear of the shuttle.

ANH Aunt Beru Battle of Yavin pilots (Jek Porkins for example) TESB 4-LOM Zuckuss 2-1B ROTJ Nien Nunb Teebo

Cavegod, where do you see the stickers? Based on the size of the cockpit, I wonder if it is a four seater instead of a possible two seater. Additional pictures of this LEGO masterpiece can't arrive soon enough!!

Finally, a picture of the shuttle has arrived! It looks like there is a stand with the wings in flight mode based on the top inset picture on the box, and it also looks like it is possible that the cockpit is a two seater. I am looking forward to seeing additional pictures. Definitely a must buy for me!

I own 6209, but if I didn't, I would buy 8097 without hesitation. Besides the minifigures, the only improvements that I see on 8097 relative to the ship are the better details around the wing wells and possibly a better color scheme. Other than that it's the same ship with respect to stud length, width, and height, and the secret compartments housing the missiles and cannons are similar. Based on this I cannot justify the cost for essentially the same set as compared to 6209 imo. The minifigures are hard to pass up and my hope is that LEGO will release a future set or sets with them included, such as an updated LEGO Cloud City. I am looking forward to seeing pictures of 10212. I do not have a lambda class shuttle, so this set most likely will be a must buy for me.

My lovely wife surprised me last Thursday evening by buying the Winter Toy Shop. She said that one of the store employees at the LEGO store in Cincinnati, Ohio told her that she had made a wise decision to buy the set because they were flying off the floor (they were stored stacked on the floor versus the shelves). There was a decent supply of them at the store a week ago the Friday before last week (11/13/2009). We plan on building it together this coming Friday when we decorate the house for Christmas. The prices for the Winter Toy Shop on Ebay are ridiculous. Hopefully the sold out status isn't permanent for the short term and those who missed out can still purchase it for a reasonable price.

Today I completed a project that I started approximately two months ago. My wife and I are expecting our first born towards the end of 2009 and the theme for the nursery is the ABC's. I grew up with LEGO (mostly classic castle and space) and I am an active AFOL collector (Star Wars and City), so I wanted to incorporate LEGO into the nursery theme and decided to design and build the first three letters of the alphabet (A, B, & C). My intent for each letter was to also incorporate an object that began with each letter (A for apple, B for boat, and C for candle). I also wanted to incorporate minifigures into each letter since for me, minifigures are a big part of the LEGO universe and to not have them included would be blasphemy! Wall space was the driving factor for the project, so in order to be efficient with the wall space in the nursery without sacrificing a lot of detail a 10 inch square green baseplate was used for each letter. My wife found 10 inch square (inside dimensions) shadow boxes that would serve as the frames for each letter. Each baseplate fits snugly inside each shadow box. The shadow boxes have a hinged door in the front for easy access to the inside. The door stays closed with a magnet. The depth of each shadow box can accommodate the equivalent thickness of a baseplate, two bricks, and a plate. Any more than this and the front door cannot be closed. I had to construct several mock-ups in order to determine what could and could not fit during the design phase. So I only purchased one shadow box during the mock up phase and to work out the bugs in the design before purchasing the remaining shadow boxes. I used MLCAD Version 3.20 in order to design each letter. Once the design was complete, I made a trip to the local LEGO store and made purchases from multiple Bricklink stores to obtain the baseplates, bricks, plates, and other accessories needed for construction. I estimate that the design and troubleshooting time took approximately 30 hours spread out several weekday evenings and weekends. Construction time took approximately three hours. Here are the pictures of the final product. Enjoy!