Review: 75080 AAT

Set ID: 75080 AAT (Armored Assault Tank)

Number of Pieces: 251

Year of Release: 2015

Minifigs: 3

Purchased Price: About SGD 50

Evolution. Flora and Fauna evolved over million of years so that they can survive the test of time and stay relevant to today's environment. In the process, a species evolved, morphed and improved to become better, stronger and more resilient. That's for living things, as well as for many of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation LEGO Star Wars sets that I own. But, not this one.

The AAT played a big part in the famous battle on Naboo, annihilating the fellow tribesmen of Jar Jar effortlessly with its lethal armoury. It was almost a mismatch, given how primitive the weapons of the opposition possessed. Anyway, the AAT caught my attention with a design that resemble closely to a modern day tank - sloping armour plates, big guns and rotating turret. Any occupants must feel really safe inside this heavily fortified vehicle, especially when you see that you enemies are charging up to you with spears.

In the second year of launching the Star Wars range, LEGO decided to introduce the 1st generation 150+ piece AAT. If you have seen what shared the shelf back alongside the 7155 AAT, it is not hard to make the decision to purchase one then. In fact, if I had known that the value will sky rocket years later, I would have bought a few more then. In an era (back in 2000) where system building dominated the design and curvature was a foreign vocabulary in LEGO Star Wars, the 7155 brought a breathe of fresh air with a totally curved front armour and, get this, huge printed bricks! I remembered the only down side to the set then was the tendency for it to tip over due to the heavy command turret, relative to the overall weight of the AAT. How does LEGO outdo it with this set then?

Building Experience

This set comes packed in a slightly oversized box with the typical 2015 box design. The word "Disney" appeared at the right bottom corner of the front design, which made me suspect for a while if this is a "cartoon set" or a "movie set"? (I don't collect the former) After some research, I concluded it was not a Clone War or Rebel version which prompted me to include this in my collection inventory. I quite like the graphics on the front though, with Jar Jar Binks attempting to wrestle the cannon as seen in the Battle of Naboo, and as a result, sending the Battle Droids fleeing.

Three packs of bricks slipped out when I tear open the perforated lines on the box. Content also include a small 60+ page building instruction and a 16X2 piece used for the spine of the AAT. Splitting of the 200+ bricks into 3 packs seemed a little overzealous but I have to admit, it did make building a lot much faster. And in my case, it was a 30 minute uninspiring build.

The Finished AAT

Side profile

Front profile

This AAT can accommodate two Battle Droids - one in the rotating turret (command post) and the other in the piloting cockpit in the front. The cockpit is a rather bland affair as the designer of the set decided to leave the interior totally empty and devoid of any control panels / joystick. In this modern days that details are king, this is certainly a poor (pun intended) design or oversight.

Levers for missiles activation

The armoury consist of a pair of forward-facing cannons flanking the sides of the AAT and a long laser cannon attached to the rotating turret. The latter is the only gun that allows any vertical freedom of movement, which will be useful to take down any hovering Naboo fighters, if any. Before I forget, this AAT has also a pair of spring loaded missiles concealed under the nose. These missiles are fired off with a pair of loosely assembled levers located below the turret, so loose, that any slight movement during play time would fire off the missiles accidentally.

The hazardous missiles

The curved armour plates in the front are chunkier than its predecessor, resulting in better stability of the AAT. Unfortunately, the designer has also chose to re-design these plates to make them rounder instead of the movie-accurate flatter profile. To make matter worse, the impressive printed launch tube openings in 7155 are totally missing in this variant! Huge mistake, huge one! How does this affect the look of the AAT? Think oversized micro fighter AAT. That will be close enough.

Minifigs

In recent years, there have been numerous Star Wars sets that suck big time with the vehicle design but were saved by the excellent accompanying minifigs. This, on the other hand, is not one of them. While the three minifigs are appropriate companion to the AAT, they are uninspiring and appeared too many times in other sets. Guess I am really spoilt by the heightened standards of the minifigs now.

This Jar Jar Binks was first seen in 2012, with the 7929 Battle of Naboo set. I remembered I was rather impressed then with the revised design from its predecessor. The shield was especially impressive but after 3 years, the novelty has kind of worn off. Jar Jar comes with a one-piece highly detailed head piece and movie accurate colours. His torso is printed on both sides with very organic and primitive vest designs.

Do I need to introduce the droids? Ok. There are two. One common battle droid and the other, a blue pilot one. Period.

Conclusion

I cannot fully describe the sense of disappointment with this set. I guess the bar was set rather high by its predecessor 15 years ago, so much so that it will almost take a miracle to overcome that expectation, especially given that this is not a big vehicle and therefore, has its limitation in terms of how much it can improved on. Having said that, I still feel rather let down and is now in urgent need of a good build next to soothe my melancholic soul. Bring on a UCS next!

+ Better stability and sturdiness

- Disappointing curved amour plate design: too bulky and no printings!
- Empty cockpit? Really?
- Spring loaded missiles kept firing off accidentally
- Uninspiring minifigs