Set ID: 75042 Droid Gunship
Number of Pieces: 439
Year of Release: 2014
Minifigs: 4
Purchased Price: About SGD 70
Another re-make of an older set, and since I did not buy its predecessor (as it was classified under the Clone War range then) there is no basis for comparison between the two sets for me. The Droid Gunship has always been a menacing presence in any of the battles that it appeared in, partly because of its fearsome range of arsenal, and partly due to its look, resembling that of a giant hovering fly spraying death inducing lasers and blowing up its enemies with its bombs. The LEGO version does do a lot of justice to its movie counterpart, but not without some complaints and areas for improvement.
How should I describe my impression with this ship? It is one with a fly's head attached to a pancake body with a lack of vertical presence. With this description, it is no secret that it doesn't scores high with me in the looks department. The head was hinged onto the body using a ball and socket joint so that it can scan for its victims while hovering. Having said that, it only has the vertical degree of freedom and not the horizontal one, limiting its kill zone.
The cockpit is found in the head and is only big enough to accommodate one battle droid lying down. There is no control stick / panel within so I suppose the battle droid has some way of plugging into the Gunship, maybe via a wifi system on similar on board. However, on the inside of the cockpit lid, you will be able to find a screen with a silhouette of an AT-AP on it, presumably as a potential target for the Gunship to zoom into. Nice little touch.
To act its role as a menacing weapon / ship, this vehicle is not short of arsenal on board, mainly concentrating at the cockpit area. On the tip of both wings are the "new" spring loaded missiles, which kind of increase the set's playability. However, given the length of the missiles, they do stick out like a sore thumb out of the missile chamber. This design also give rise to the tendency to accidentally set off the missiles during play time.
There are 6 bombs located at the undercarriage that can be deployed by pulling a pair of levers at the rear of the Gunship. The design of the bomb chamber does not really impresses me, for the bombs are not tightly secured in the chamber, and have the tendency to swing from side to side when playing with the ship. A pair of retractable undercarriage allow the Gunship to be docked safely, and gives it the necessary elevation for a better photo angle. The mini side wings can also be turned down to lend some stability to the ship when docked.
Building Process
I was a little surprised to find that the 400+ bricks were split into 5 separate bags. Not that I am complaining because the more bags there are, the easier and faster one can build. Accompanying the bricks are a building booklet and a sticker sheet. There are some rather interesting brick selection in this set, and I am particularly excited about the use of the S-shape bricks nowadays. Having also found that in another 2014 set, I believe such evolution will only improve the set designs in the future and certainly applaud the LEGO team for pushing that boundary further.
Basically the building process involves construction of the head, the body and putting them together. It took me a good 50 minutes to complete everything. Not difficult but quite a fair bit of interlocking of flat pieces. As a result, the completed body feels rather solid when completed. I even had the urge to throw it out like a frisbee. But the thought of a potential lawsuit from my neighbour prevented me from doing so.
I hate stickers but I can't complain about those in this set. They do improve the overall look and details of the Gunship and are not difficult to apply. So for once, I will spare my venomous comments on them.Minifigs
The two droids - Super Battle Droid and the common battle droid, have been covered very extensively in other review entries before so I will not re-review them. Again, I do love the Super Battle Droid as it looks really awesome, but I will give it a double thumbs up if it does not have a hollow torso, or at least not an exposed one. LEGO, please do something about it.
Chewbacca is all new and certainly looks every bit impressive, at least if I benchmark it against its predecessor. Instead of the monotonous brown, this Chewbacca comes with dual colour tone to give it a more textured look. Also noticed that Chewy now has an exposed pair of fangs with an intimidating expression. That will be useful in any battle situation to scare the poop out of his enemies. Printing has also been extended beyond the torso as you will be able to see some fur designs on his leg piece. I do secretly wish that Chewy can be built half a head taller.
As for the 41st Elite Corps Trooper, it is the same one as seen in the recent Kashyyyk Troopers set, newly released in 2014. Very detailed helmet design and nice camouflage torso prints. Head piece comes with a frowning expression and this has been a common head piece for troopers released this season. The camouflage prints also extend to the leg piece, allowing the Trooper to blend with the surrounding during battle.
Conclusion
While the LEGO design team has endeavoured to stay true to the original design of the ship and has done a reasonable job. However, given that the Droid Gunship is not the most sexy nor iconic ship of Star Wars, I personally wouldn't rate it high as a worthy set to collect. But if you insist this set should become part of your collection, then wait for a really good sale to come along.
+ Interesting bricks selections
+ Minifigs
+ Good representation of the actual Gunship in terms of colour
- Primitive bomb mechanism
- Not 'round' enough
- Some pretty loose parts
