Review: 75038 Jedi Interceptor

Set ID: 75038 Jedi Interceptor 

Number of Pieces: 223

Year of Release: 2014

Minifigs: 2

Purchased Price: About SGD 50

The Product of an idea Drought?

A typical day in the LEGO Star Wars theme brainstorming room... a group of designers gathered to flush out ideas of the new product range, ready for launch in a year's time. Names were thrown in, ideas were bounced and recycled, tempers flared. As with any brainstorming session, ideas do sometimes run dry. This is when one of the senior executives came up with "Is that all we can think of? Don't worry, let's relaunch another Jedi Interceptor!" So here we are, facing yet another one in the whole long line of predecessors. 

9494 (2012) Anakin's Jedi Interceptor 

7661 (2007) Jedi Starfighter & Hyper Drive Booster

7283 (2005) Ultimate Space Battle (comes with a RED one too!)

7256 (2005) Jedi Starfighter & Vulture Droid

I will have no issue if every release comes with radical improvements but how much can we expect from a set of 200+ brick counts? Having just reviewed the 9494 not too long ago, I can still vividly remember all the details of it and compare that to this version. Colors aside, the designs are almost similar. One new feature that is absent in all other previous interceptors is the inclusion of a pair of spring loaded missiles on its undercarriage. This exponentially improved the playability of this set especially for those who enjoy seeing the missiles hitting the pre-set up targets in a distance. I am not exaggerating, these missiles can really fly from one end of the room to another. As hazardous as it might sound, it is actually quite an experience shooting them off. A surplus missile is included in this set  in anticipation of any loss during play time.

Another feature that I like about this new generation Interceptor is the exclusive pit on the wing for R2-D2 to reside in. This feature is not new any more given that it has made its first appearance in set 9494. Moving on to the cockpit, it is just 2X2 stud big, just enough to accommodate the sitting Anakin. With no space to insert additional joystick or control, a new sticker (with plenty of details on the control panel and a pair of joysticks!) is applied in front of the cockpit to help Anakin with his navigation. This is actually the first time I see LEGO attempted to print sticker designs in more 3-D format. Albeit with little success, the effort is applaudable. As with the last couple of releases, the canopy design is detailed and it looks fantastic.

If I can have a wish list, will be to include a pair of retractable undercarriage, solely for the purpose of display. But the compromise could be the sleekness of the design and may take up the space currently occupied by the spring loading bricks.

Building Experience

As one of the many SGD50 sets this year, the box size is consistent with the other sets in the same price  bracket. But when I poured out the content, it still seemed that the box is hardly even half filled. The same also apply to the 3 packets of bricks, as I thought LEGO is a little over zealous with the choice of bag sizes. The building process is straightforward and unexciting. Bag 1 builds the cockpit, bags 2 and 3, the two wings. 30-40 minutes should see your Interceptor take shape.

The few stickers included in this set are appropriate and necessary. One was the "3-D" control panel sticker mentioned earlier. The others are the logo sticker on the wings and gauze-like wing extension design. For once, I will give credit to those much-maliged stickers.

The finished Interceptor feels really solid, even the canopy passed the test of a couple of barrel rolls without flipping open. I guess this can also be attributed to the interlocking bricks that made up the wings. Instead of using large pieces to complete the wings, the designer chose to interlock smaller pieces and supported them with longer bricks that run underneath the wings. This also gives the wing design a more organic look and a sense of varying depths.

Minifigs

Although there are only 2 minifigs included in this set, they are totally relevant to the accompanying vehicle and are unique to this set. Both Anakin and R2 have come in more than 20 sets over the years and therefore are not entirely exciting to see them in the lineup of minifigs in front of box design any more. However, the subtle details and improvement made along the years has kept them fresh and updated to stay on par with the new minifigs released lately.

I have given up on describing R2 whenever it appears in any of the previous few sets that I have reviewed. But something about this R2 caught my eyes. The SILVER head piece. For years, LEGO have used gray to represent R2. While it is not too big a departure from the truth, gray was widely accepted. But gray did not manage to bring out the metallic feel as compared to silver, which to me, elevate the R2 minifig to the next level. Subtle changes have also been made on the details on the head piece and torso piece. Without meticulously comparing it to its predecessor, one will not be able to tell the difference.

Anakin also comes with new updates to the head piece, while the torso and leg pieces are recycled from the 9494's Sith-faced Anakin. This Anakin looks much more friendly and "sith-less", with one smirky face and another more intense one. Both faces are accompanied by a printed side microphone for his communication with R2 and other support crew. His brown / black theme of his outfit resonate well with me, and stay true to the movie counterpart too. Details on the torso cannot be ignored, although it is quite difficult to see given the close color clash between the dark brown and black color.

As I was writing the review, Anakin's lightsaber somehow caught my attention. There is absolutely no bubbles found in the transparent lightsaber tube! For years, I have accepted that the bubbles are part of the manufacturing problem and pay little attention to it thereafter. It seems that this has been rectified and hopefully, this will not be a one-off "perfect" lightsaber that we are going to get. If there was someone in LEGO who was in charge of getting this straightened out, kudos to you!

Conclusion

There is simply no reason for any one to get this set if you already have the one or few of the previous Interceptors. Don't get me wrong. This is not a bad set, but with little exciting new features, and the fact that the last one was only released 2 years ago, I cannot comprehend the inclusion of this set in this latest wave of release again.

+ Solid design and finishing
+ Cockpit canopy details
+ Spring loaded missiles (if you are in the mood to do some shooting)
+ The new R2D2 with silver head!

- Very little exciting new revisions as compared to the last release
- Spring loaded missiles (if you are the worried parents of your 6 year old, chasing after the younger sister with the Interceptor)