JohnnyThunder97
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JohnnyThunder97's Stats
JohnnyThunder97's Stats
- 5Average Rating
- 10Helpfulness Votes
- 0Featured Reviews
- 3Review Count
- April 25, 2018First Review
- December 31, 2018Last Review
JohnnyThunder97's Reviews
Escape Pod vs. Dewback™ Microfighters
Escape Pod vs. Dewback™ Microfighters
Posted:December 31, 2018
JohnnyThunder97
Age:
19-24
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Advanced LEGO builder
Overall:
5
/
5
Fabulous Dewback!
" Overall opinion of the set:
On hearing about this set it was instantly a must buy; finally a systems brick built Dewback! It’s a delightful little build with many options for posing, and is actually a better scale for the sandtrooper minifigure than either of the previous two moulded Dewback’s included in the various Mos Eisley Cantina sets of the past. I must admit this is my first micro fighter purchase as I’m not such a fan of the distorted scale of the sets- but I do appreciate the appeal of ‘swooshability’ of such small sets for younger children. As much as I love the Dewback, the droid escape pod did little to change my opinion on this, so I can’t see myself becoming invested in the series.
Who should buy this set?
I ultimately imagine this set will be purchased by two groups of people: children who are the ideal age to be entertained by the micro fighter series, and people like myself who simply can’t resist the Dewback!
How are the minifigures?
Well to start, to my knowledge this is the first time that there have been 3 minifigures in a microfighter set, so already this set can’t really be criticised in the minifigure department regardless of how the figures turn out!
The Sandtrooper with the controversial new ‘large’ stormtrooper helmet in my personal opinion works very very well, and my only wish would be that I could obtain more of them, perhaps in a battle pack of some kind! Otherwise, C3PO is a great figure if you don’t already have him, and R2-D2 gets an appropriate inclusion too, but feels pretty worthless as I think my number of R2’s is pretty solidly into the teens at this point... after 20 years of Star Wars LEGO sets, perhaps it’s finally time for a redesign of that classic astromech design...?
The Sandtrooper with the controversial new ‘large’ stormtrooper helmet in my personal opinion works very very well, and my only wish would be that I could obtain more of them, perhaps in a battle pack of some kind! Otherwise, C3PO is a great figure if you don’t already have him, and R2-D2 gets an appropriate inclusion too, but feels pretty worthless as I think my number of R2’s is pretty solidly into the teens at this point... after 20 years of Star Wars LEGO sets, perhaps it’s finally time for a redesign of that classic astromech design...?
Pro’s:
-Brick Built Dewback
-Lovely new Sandtrooper design
-Three minifigures in a microfighter set
-Brick Built Dewback
-Lovely new Sandtrooper design
-Three minifigures in a microfighter set
Con’s:
-Yet another droid escape shuttle!
-Yet another R2-D2 and C3PO!
-Only one Dewback!
-Yet another droid escape shuttle!
-Yet another R2-D2 and C3PO!
-Only one Dewback!
Personally I pretty desperately want a second Dewback and Sandtrooper, so it’s a shame I can’t purchase one without also obtaining an unusual R2-D2 and C3PO army (though that’s not likely to stop me!)
"
I would recommend this to a friend!
From: Nottingham, UK
From:
United Kingdom
Age:
19-24
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Advanced LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Self
Build Time:
15
mins
Play Experience (Optional):
5
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
5
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Easy
Very Easy
Very Challenging
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
+8points
9of 10found this review helpful.
Snowspeeder™
Snowspeeder™
Posted:May 12, 2018
JohnnyThunder97
Age:
19-24
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Advanced LEGO builder
Overall:
5
/
5
There are flaws, but the model is still fantastic!
" This wonderful set is a joy to build from start to finish! During this build I was filled with great appreciation throughout for replicating many of the angles of the Snowspeeder, one of my favourite ships growing up! Especially cool is the movement of the flaps on the wings, a critical feature that could have easily been missed, or not as fun as it ends up being (the flaps open by rotating the rear engines!).
The best bits:
- The simplicity and neatness of the opening flaps on the wings. Very very neat.
- The rotating rear gun, controlled from inside the cockpit!!! This wasn't something I expected before the build, and obviously isn't something that was necessary for the designer to attempt, as realistically this is a model for display, and it requires one to build the ship to know that this mechanism is there- but it is a lovely touch for a UCS model.
-The sturdiness of the central build.
-The main blasters on the wings angled slightly inwards.
-The detailing and appearance of the rear fans.
-The stand having two positions to display the model in (either flat or slightly side ways, as though turning to the left while flying).
-The inclusion of mini figures (it would have been very easy to not do this in a non-minifigure scale UCS build; the 2004 version is proof enough of this!).
- The simplicity and neatness of the opening flaps on the wings. Very very neat.
- The rotating rear gun, controlled from inside the cockpit!!! This wasn't something I expected before the build, and obviously isn't something that was necessary for the designer to attempt, as realistically this is a model for display, and it requires one to build the ship to know that this mechanism is there- but it is a lovely touch for a UCS model.
-The sturdiness of the central build.
-The main blasters on the wings angled slightly inwards.
-The detailing and appearance of the rear fans.
-The stand having two positions to display the model in (either flat or slightly side ways, as though turning to the left while flying).
-The inclusion of mini figures (it would have been very easy to not do this in a non-minifigure scale UCS build; the 2004 version is proof enough of this!).
The worst bits... or the bits that could be better anyway:
-It would be nice if when positioned in the most vertical position, you could lock the stand so that it doesn't fall back to the slanted view, which it does slightly too easily for my liking!
-The angles at the rear of the build aren't movie accurate... but I actually prefer this shaping than the actual ship to be honest... However, I would be intrigued to see someone with more time (and skill) than myself to try to edit this part of the build to raise the rear gun by about a cm, and correct the angle (look at the ship in the movie and it'll be apparent which angle I refer to!).
-One of the great features of the ship is missing... Anyone who's seen the movie knows that the way the airspeeders take down the Empire's huge AT-ATs after realising their guns are too weak for the armour, is by firing the towing cable and wrapping the legs of the AT-ATs together! I think for a UCS set worth well over £100, some kind of towing cable firing mechanism would have been lovely to see! Perhaps after another 13 year wait, the UCS Snowspeeder mark III shall be released, and when it is, if for some reason the designer decides to trawl through these reviews for inspiration, I would love to see them try to include this feature!
-This is my big actual issue with this set. There are simply too many stickers!!! Growing up with Star Wars sets from the early naughties, I remember very few stickers being included in any set, even your cheaper play sets! So it is disappointing in 2017 to have to apply over 30 stickers to a set that cost well over £100! The information plaque is especially frustrating as its such a huge sticker; it's very easy to place wonkily or accidentally trap little air bubbles beneath. I don't always mind the odd few stickers when they add great details, but I think once this number exceeds 10 stickers, it feels like there should have been an alternative, or a print made... Surely LEGO has enough money to treat its biggest fans and purchasers of their largest sets to bricks that are unique and gorgeously printed?? The proof that it does comes in the minifigures, with lovely detailed helmets, bodies, legs and even arm prints! Imagine if when reviewing the third theoretical 2030 UCS Snowspeeder, all minifigures are blank canvases who come with 10 stickers each too...
-It would be nice if when positioned in the most vertical position, you could lock the stand so that it doesn't fall back to the slanted view, which it does slightly too easily for my liking!
-The angles at the rear of the build aren't movie accurate... but I actually prefer this shaping than the actual ship to be honest... However, I would be intrigued to see someone with more time (and skill) than myself to try to edit this part of the build to raise the rear gun by about a cm, and correct the angle (look at the ship in the movie and it'll be apparent which angle I refer to!).
-One of the great features of the ship is missing... Anyone who's seen the movie knows that the way the airspeeders take down the Empire's huge AT-ATs after realising their guns are too weak for the armour, is by firing the towing cable and wrapping the legs of the AT-ATs together! I think for a UCS set worth well over £100, some kind of towing cable firing mechanism would have been lovely to see! Perhaps after another 13 year wait, the UCS Snowspeeder mark III shall be released, and when it is, if for some reason the designer decides to trawl through these reviews for inspiration, I would love to see them try to include this feature!
-This is my big actual issue with this set. There are simply too many stickers!!! Growing up with Star Wars sets from the early naughties, I remember very few stickers being included in any set, even your cheaper play sets! So it is disappointing in 2017 to have to apply over 30 stickers to a set that cost well over £100! The information plaque is especially frustrating as its such a huge sticker; it's very easy to place wonkily or accidentally trap little air bubbles beneath. I don't always mind the odd few stickers when they add great details, but I think once this number exceeds 10 stickers, it feels like there should have been an alternative, or a print made... Surely LEGO has enough money to treat its biggest fans and purchasers of their largest sets to bricks that are unique and gorgeously printed?? The proof that it does comes in the minifigures, with lovely detailed helmets, bodies, legs and even arm prints! Imagine if when reviewing the third theoretical 2030 UCS Snowspeeder, all minifigures are blank canvases who come with 10 stickers each too...
However, my lengthy criticisms cannot detract from this set being a beauty that looks great on display, and is a fun built... And realistically, those are the two main things that this set should achieve! So I would still 100% recommend this set to anyone considering buying. It has its flaws, but that doesn't detract from what is a simply gorgeous and fun model!
"
I would recommend this to a friend!
From: Nottingham, UK
From:
United Kingdom
Age:
19-24
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Advanced LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Self
Build Time:
04
hrs
Play Experience (Optional):
4
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
4
/
5
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
+1point
1of 1found this review helpful.
Slave I™
Slave I™
Posted:April 25, 2018
JohnnyThunder97
Age:
19-24
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Advanced LEGO builder
Overall:
5
/
5
Reconnecting With My Childhood Passion
" Sadly, the days are gone when I could afford to request a £100 LEGO set each birthday and Christmas, with the equivalent gifts now being a new textbook or piece of furniture...
However, having not purchased a single piece of LEGO in over 8 years, spanning from GCSE years through University, I truly could not resist this phenomenal set. I justified it as a gift to me for completing my 3rd year exams, and was amazed from beginning to end. The building techniques used in this set are simple, yet beautiful, but more than that, they are enjoyable to piece together. During the build you find yourself grinning in appreciation at how different aspects of the model are achieved.
The stand out part of this model simply has to be the way that the designer has replicated the angles of the ship using technic pieces, yet has still managed to avoid leaving pretty much any obvious gaps in the ship!
Having built many LEGO models over the years, spanning product lines including the comic story focussed Aqua Team, to each of the glorious Orient Expedition sets, the Star Wars line has been, and always will be where my heart lies- and truly, the UCS Slave I is the pinnacle. To anyone considering purchasing this set, I'd have to encourage you that if finances allow, you truly won't regret it!
The build has encouraged me to trawl back through my collection, and I've loved reminiscing while rebuilding many of the sets from my childhood over the months since my purchase, so thank you LEGO for being such an amazing part of my life so far! I really hope I can afford to buy and build more of UCS range that I never could have dreamed of owning as a kid in the years to come! I can't wait to hopefully save enough to collect the UCS Snowspeeder and UCS Y-Wing over the coming years, both of which look absolutely fantastic!
"
I would recommend this to a friend!
From: Nottingham, UK
From:
United Kingdom
Age:
19-24
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Advanced LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Self
Build Time:
06
hrs
Value for Money (Optional):
5
/
5
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
0points
0of 0found this review helpful.