Review: 6209 Slave I

Set ID: 6209 Slave I

Number of Pieces: 537

Year of Release: 2006

Minifigs: 4

Purchased Price: About SGD 100

No. This is not the UCS. That will come soon.

3+ years ago, I reviewed the 8097 Slave I and gave it a thumbs up for its playability and design. This version, 4 years the junior of the 8097, will equally earned those accolades, and more. Considering the limitation of brick assortment back in 2006, this Slave I has indeed outdone most of the other Star Wars sets in conquering the curved profile of the uniquely-shaped vehicle. Just check out the blocky 7144 and you will know what I meant.

I was even contemplating doing a shoot-out between this and the UCS version, which I am so tempted to build. But considering that (1) there is a 9-year age gap between the 2 versions and (2) the UCS has a larger body and thus, better brick assortment and versatility in design, I decided against a straight shootout. Honestly, I am not sure if this Slave I will eventually lose the comparison, unless size only matters. Let the idea of a shoot-out brew a little longer then ...

Building Experience 

Raised profile on box design!

At first sight, the box design looks conventional. But upon closer examination, I soon realised that there is more than meets the eye. This box was placed in my storage for a number of years now so there has been a thin layer of dust accumulated on it (although I have kept it in a separate cardboard box, along with 4-5 other sets) As I attempted to wipe away the dust, my fingers picked out the slightly raised profile of the featured Slave I on the front of the box. When I tilted the box to examine it closely, that was when I noticed the pop-up profile of not just the Slave I, but of the minifigs as well! I am not sure if the other sets released in 2006 were also with this feature, but this certainly make the box much more collectible as compared to a regular one.

Alternative builds

The back of the box illustrates the various playable features, together with a couple of alternative designs that you can build with the bricks in this set.

8 packs of bricks can be found in the box, and all are unnumbered! I can't remember when was the last time I build an unnumbered set (I think it was the Death Star...) but the masochistic nature in me welcome this variation from the newer sets, which are numbered for easy sorting and construction. The other residents in the box include a few loose plates, the cockpit canopy and the instruction booklet.

From the outside, the design seems to have not evolved a lot since 2006. But the building process soon reveals the subtle evidence that this is indeed a much older cousin of the other Slave I. Unlike the frequent use of Technics parts and well, techniques, commonly found in recent years, this Slave I is fundamentally built in the System way. Surprisingly, this does not compromise the integrity and sturdiness of the vehicle at all (with exception of the cockpit canopy, that is) The absence of stickers is also a welcome sight, although I wouldn't mind some sporadic inclusion of nicely designed ones to enhance the details. I know, I know ... this is the paradoxical life of many Star Wars AFOLs.

This is not a difficult set to build and I took a 2.5 hour session to complete it.

The Swiss Army Slave I

Just like a Swiss Army knife, this Slave I is full of nice surprises. I frankly do not think that the movie version is THAT versatile and comes with so many stowed away weapons and compartments. One thing for certain, Boba will be very happy to own and fly this awesome vehicle. Movie-accurcy aside, let me do a quick checklist on the playable features:

- A spring loaded big-a@@ cannon (love the design of the trigger, but hate the difficulty to open the hatch)
- A pair of concealed missiles just below the spring loaded cannon
- A pair of cabinet doors with hinged erm ... lights / bombs?
- A pair of rotatable blaster cannons at the tip of the fuselage
- A hinged ramp to load the carbonated Hans Solo
- A bomb chamber with a couple of white head-piece bombs that tend to slip out easily during play time. And I am very sure the Slave I was never designed with the intent of making it a bomber ship (based on the DK Star Wars Complete Vehicle Guide)

Hidden spring loaded cannon

More hidden armoury

- The coolest feature is still the rotatable cockpit and wings. The designer cleverly used gravity to weigh down the pilot seat such that it will stay upright regardless whether the ship hovers vertically or land on its back. Whoever is the designer of this feature deserves a huge pat on the back! One flaw though, is the design of the wings. A strut that is supposed to connect with the wing flap was in fact, just resting on it. This lack of connection makes the strut feels quite flimsy.

Loading Hans in carbonite

Bomb chamber 

The choice of coloured bricks in this Slave I stays true to its movie counterpart. While I can always gripe on the lack of curvature in the design, that criticism is quickly dispelled once I remind myself to relook at it from a 2006 point of view. The same can also be said of the cockpit canopy, although a hinged design will make me a happier collector.

Flimsy wings

Before I forget, the bottom of this Slave I should also be commended for the level of details. The orange coloured thrusters do break the monotony of a dull grey base, and lend some weight to the authenticity of flight action during play time. I do have to say that this feature might not be appreciated often given that the Slave I will most certainly be lying on its belly most of the time.

Back view of the Slave I

Minifigs

If we exclude the carbonated Han Solo, there are four other minifigs included in this set. One thing that brought smile onto my face when I examined these minifigs is that they are from the era of the traditional LEGO faced minifigs, i.e. two dotted eyes + a smile, regardless they are heroes or villains. That innocence has since been lost some years back when more details were put into making the minifigs more movie accurate. It's hard to make a choice though.

Boba Fett - There are too many variants of this minifig that I have lost count, and this is one of the earlier one. How can one tell? Less details on the chest plate, attached jetpack to the helmet, no sign of battle damage, clean legs (not in the shaven sense, but print-less), and a totally black head piece. The entire minifig gives me a very nostalgic feeling - simple and not too movie-accurate. Yes, it is not perfect, but in imperfection, there is always a sense of warmth in it.

IG-88 - I love this minifig! For a simple reason - the metallic silver colour. There ain't too many minifigs that I know of that wears metallic silver, and this bounty hunter is TOTALLY covered in this really cool colour. In the movie, the IG-88 is much more human-like than droid-like but I am not complaining. His "old-school" blaster also brought back many memories of the early years of LEGO collection. I suspect this minifig will really fetch a high price in the future, if not already.

Dengar - This bounty hunter is too cute to be a villain! His ninja head gear hides his smiley expressions and made him look more like a desert traveler on a camel than a lethal bounty hunter. In any case, Dengar in the movie only has his head wrapped, leaving his face exposed, but this version resembles too close to a ninja, probably because he shares the same head gear design as a LEGO ninja minifig (check out the integrated clip at the back of the head gear where a ninja sword is usually attached) This Dengar, too, is unique to this set.

Bespin guard - Also unique to this set is a Bespin security guard. There is no name given to this minifig so I suppose he is a generic figure rather than an actual character. His happy face on brown complexion betrays his role as security officer in Cloud City (you can't be sooo nice to be doing a security job, can you?) Printing can be found only on the front of the torso as well as on his sleeves. The latter is especially rare even by today's standard. The fact that he can only be found in this set makes him another target for the minifig investors.

Conclusion

There are many reasons why this Slave I is worth a space in your collection, from its design and playability to its minifigs. Building this almost 10 years after its launch felt as if I have been teleported through the time machine, to an era when LEGO was much simpler, innocent and of course, cheaper.

+ Engineering marvel. Ok I am exaggerating but the cockpit design amazes me
+ Many playable features but not all are easy to play with
+ No stickers
+ Cool, unique (old school) minifigs

- Cockpit canopy tends to fall off during play