"Give me an excuse to speed!"

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with a set from the Expanded Universe range with kit #7668: Rebel Scout Speeder.
After the success of last years Clone Trooper and Battle Droid battle packs it's nice to see Lego continuing with more troop building box sets.
The Scout Speeder is a small surface skimming craft with a long open bay which seats three figures and has a large gun turret with swivelling cannon at the rear. One trooper sits atop the turret which itself can detach from the Speeder and be used as a free standing gun emplacement. There are clips along the side for weapon storage.
The best thing about this kit is the new figures in the form of 4 Rebel Fleet Troopers. Finally available, I can see people buying lots of these packs to have an army to rival the numerous Stormtroopers released so far. Two blaster rifles and 2 heavy assault rifles finish the set.
The kit is composed of 57 pieces, not including the figures and weapons and measures 16.5 cm long, 6.5cm wide and 5.5cm high including aft gun turret.
It takes about 5 minutes to build, there are 3 decals to apply and it's ready to go. A nice little kit and definitely one for all those army builders out there.

"You may begin landing your troops!"

Lego continue to celebrate Star Wars' 30th Anniversary with their largest kit to date this year with the excellent Trade Federation M.T.T. (Mobile Troop Transport).
Larger and packed with more detailing than the previous 7155 kit release from 2000, this model is an excellent reproduction of its on-screen counterpart at a large 42cm in length, 20 cm high and 15 cm wide.
The MTT is packed with features. There are two large opening hatches on each side. The rear ones allow access to the vehicle bay and the forward ones allow access to the droids and weapons storage racks. The upper front has small opening panels on each side so you can see the Pilot Droid inside and the roof opens up and back to allow access.
The front end opens right out with an upper and lower hatch and through the use of a ratchet mechanism inside you can extend the Droid racks out which house a rather cool 16 Battle Droids.
There is also a hatch at the rear to allow the Droid Transport to get in and out. The Droid Transport is an update of the 7126 Battle Droid Carrier from 1999, with improved features. There is a Pilot Droid to drive and the back has the capacity to fit any of the modules with the kit. The main pilot control section, Droid racks, weapons rack and navigation pack can all be placed on the rear part of the carrier allowing you to put whatever you want on it.
The kit is great fun to build with 1175 pieces (not including Droids and weapons) and takes about 2 1/2 hours. It comes complete with a whopping 16 Battle Droids, 2 Security Battle Droids (red), 2 Pilot Droids (blue) and a vastly improved Destroyer Droid. The Battle Droids also have an improvement in that one arm has the hand upwards so now they can hold guns properly as opposed to the sideways stance they've had in the past. Each droid has one of the new blaster rifles and there are 2 of the assualt rifles stored on the navigation pack inside.
This kit is an absolute must for any Star Wars collector and an instant army builder, especially when combined with a few of the 7654 Droid Battle Packs. Now all they need to do is update the Trade Federation A.A.T. and we'll have the full army!
Roger, roger!

"Scan the planet Artoo - we're going in!"

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with their first ever set from the new Clone Wars CGI animated series with kit #7669: Anakin's Jedi Starfighter.
The yellow enhanced Delta-7 starfighter is based loosely around the frame of 2002's Jedi Starfighter with a slightly larger hull and more detailing. It features moveable wings, positionable landing gear, 2 forward mounted blue flick missiles, removable cockpit and best of all, a neat little ejection mechanism for R2.
There is a connected lever that runs from the aft through the hull and when you push it in, a small bolt pushes up and ejects R2 upwards. The new flick missiles are much better than previous issues with a new piece design that stay clipped in the frame until you apply pressure the thin tail at the back of it.
You get two figures with the kit, R2-D2 and a new version of Anakin Skywalker. Unlike previous issues, this figure has more detailing on the facial feature making it look much better than the standard ones. Anakin's trademark blue lightsabre finishes the set.
The kit is composed of 142 pieces, not including the figures, missiles and weapons and measures 26cm long, 14cm wide and 8cm high - without landing gear deployed.
It takes about 15 minutes to build, there are 6 decals to apply and it's ready to go. A very nice starfighter and hopefully the first in a new wave for Star Wars Lego.

"Begin landing your troops."

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with a set from the Expanded Universe range with kit #7667: Imperial Dropship.
After the success of last years Clone Trooper and Battle Droid battle packs it's nice to see Lego continuing with more troop building box sets.
The Imperial Dropship is a small planet skimming craft with a cockpit for a pilot, wing mounted cannons and a deployable troop platform to the rear. The cockpit hinges open and closed and the rear tail and thruster assembly pivots up to allow the troop platform to detach.
You get one Shadow Trooper pilot (previously only available in 2007's TIE Crawler) and 3 Stormtroopers. Two blaster rifles and 2 heavy assault rifles finish the set.
The kit is composed of 60 pieces, not including the figures and weapons and measures 11cm long, 6cm wide and 7.5cm high at rear.
It takes about 5 minutes to build, there are 3 decals to apply and it's ready to go. A nice little kit and definitely one for all those army builders out there.

Brilliant!!!

This product is a very good addition to any star wars lego collection. It contains an assortment of clone trooper minifigure's featuring a Shock trooper,2X normal clone troopers and an yellow commander clone......The veichles include a hovering turret and a speeder bike. However......It is not complicated to build but is fun at the same time. It only took 10 minute's to build.Overall it is a very good product!!!

"Roger, roger!"

Lego continue to celebrate Star Wars' 30th Anniversary by taking a nod from Hasbro and making Battle Packs for all those out there who want armies of soldiers.
As a companion pack to the Clone Trooper Battle Pack (#7655), the Droids Battle Pack is a very welcome addition to the series.
The set features a Battle Droid Transport, an updated version of the impossible-to-find Battle Droid Carrier from 2001 and a rather nice updated version of the S.T.A.P. (Single Trooper Aerial Platform) which was last seen in the Naboo Swamp set way back in 1999.
The kit consists of 67 pieces and has 4 Battle Droids (2 with blasters) and 3 dark grey Super Battle Droids. The S.T.A.P. has a positionable top gun mount and the Transport has moving laser cannons on both sides of the driver's turret which also turns about 30 degrees to each side.
The kit is easy to build and only takes a couple of minutes but this kit is going to be very popular for those who build dioramas and just like to have loads of droids.
All in all, the Droids Battle Pack is a must for all those Star Wars fans out there.

"General Kenobi, you are a bold one!"

Lego continue to celebrate Star Wars' 30th Anniversary with their first wave of new kits from the Saga with this great model of General Grievous' starfighter.
For collectors, this is the first chance to get a General Grievous figure since the General Grievous Chase set from 2005's Revenge Of The Sith line which sold out in record time!
The ship is great, with lots of small pieces on the hull to give some detailing. The front section slides forward to allow access to the cockpit and the rear stabiliser folds up and down for flight or landing.
Grievous comes equipped with 2 green lightsabres, 2 blue lightsabres and one of the new blaster rifles. The lightsabres can be attached to a weapons rack for storage which itself clips just at the front of the lower hull out of the way.
The model contains 220 pieces, not including the figure and weapons and takes about 15 minutes to build.
A must have for any Star Wars collection. Just make sure those pesky Jedi don't use it to escape :)

"Hunt down and kill the remaining Jedi!"

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with the first ever kit based on a Star Wars computer game with the excellent Rogue Shadow from The Force Unleashed.
This model is a great representation of the ship used by Darth Vader in the game. It features opening cockpit canopy to reveal the pilot area (for 1 figure) and storage compartment, rotating wing panels which simultaneously fold the engine port back for either flight position or landing and moveable landing gear which folds away neatly for flight. There are weapons pods on the tip of each wing which add to the sinister look.
The port wing has two compartments. The upper one which opens to allow a missile rack which activates with a lever from the outside. The two missiles are simply pulled out for use. The lower compartment has a swivelling weapons rack which has two of the heavy assault rifles in it. The starboard wing has one compartment which opens via a lever from underneath which ratchets a firing missile launcher from inside - the same type as the one in the 2007 Imperial Landing Craft or 2006's Slave 1.
The bonus of this kit is the 3 mini figures with it. You get a battle damaged Darth Vader figure with great face and body detailing. You can choose to have him wearing his helmet or a partial version and wielding his red lightsabre. You also get Juno Eclipse who has a choice of hair or Imperial Officer's hat and like Vader, has better face detailing. Finally you have Vader's apprentice complete with a red lightsabre. Unfortunately he is relegated to the basic Lego face which is a shame seeing as how the other two look so good.
The kit is composed of 460 pieces, not including the figures, weapons, alternate head pieces and firing missile.
Rogue Shadow measures 38cm long from aft engine to laser cannon tip, 32cm wide from wing to wing and 9cm high not including wings in vertical landing position.
It takes about 45 minutes to build and is a very welcome addition to the Star Wars universe. Let's hope Lego continue further releases from the Star Wars games soon.

"Pursue the Rebels into the forest!"

Lego continue their collection for Star Wars' 30th Anniversary with this great updated kit of the AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport)
Far superior to the original release back in 2001, this kit is the correct scale, is packed with features and has for the first time an AT-ST driver figure armed with a blastech E-11 rifle.
The AT-ST has this neat wheel on the back that allows you to move the head side to side via a gear mechanism in the body. The cockpit hatch opens and there is even room behind the driver for another figure. The left side of the head has a positionable cannon and the right has a positionable mortar. The primary guns on the front can also move.
The legs have three points of articulation each making the kit quite poseable - great for trampling those Ewok catapults!
The kit is easy to build, it doesn't take too long and is a great addition to any Imperial armada.
Let's hope they update the AT-AT as well :)

Patience game

One piece of strong advice. You must have unlimited patience to build this. It's not a matter of skill, but the emotional skill - I spent 3 days making this, I pick it up and ... BANG! Base falls out, I spent hours rebuilding it, then give up later after reducing me to tears twice.

There are loads of good points though; it comes with a Darth Vader figure [I have been looking for one for ages], an exclusive, no, two - Grand Moff Tarkin and the mouse droid - and 2 emperor's royal guards. These are especially good - the force pikes, the capes, the AWESOME helmets.There's also an Emperor hologram.

Overall, I'd say buy this if you're not going to play with it. If you like getting stuff out, buy the Troop Transporter - you get a brilliant vehicle, one imperial pilot, 2 sandtroopers and 2 normal stormtroopers.
Patience is everything.

"Deploy the droids!

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with a set from the Attack Of The Clones with kit #7670: Hailfire Droid and Spider Droid.
After the success of last years Clone Trooper and Battle Droid battle packs it's nice to see Lego continuing with new larger troop building box sets.
The set is an instant droid army and has 4 mini figures. There are two standard Battle Droids, like the ones from 2007's Trade Federation M.T.T., which have the arm with the upright grip and one Battle Droid Commander with a yellow body. Each one is armed with a blaster rifle. There is also a dark grey Super Battle Droid as well.
The next droid is the Spider Droid. A vastly improved and updated version from the previous release in 2005's Wookie Attack, it has more poseable legs, moveable antenna, movable forward cannon and moving eye scanners. It has a foot base of 7.5 sqcm, is 11.5cm from leg to cannon tip and stands 8.5 cm high to tip of antenna.
The kit is finished off with a Corporate Alliance Hailfire Droid. These antiaircraft weapon platforms have two upper mounted missile racks for dealing with enemy ships. The model has angled wheels with brown tread tracks (works best on carpeted floors!) and movable missile pods on each side. Each pod holds 4 red flick missiles. The droid measures 10 cm long, 13.5cm wide and 8cm tall.
The kit which is composed of 227 pieces, not including the figures and weapons and takes about 20 minutes to build. A excellent army builder and a must for all those Trade Federation fans out there. Lets hope Lego bring out a comparable Clone Trooper pack later in the year.

"The Droid Army have started up their power generators."

Hasbro kick off their first releases of 2008's Complete Saga collection with a wave of figures from Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith. The next figure in the line is #03: Commander Gree, 41st Elite Division.
This figure is a very welcome update of the previous 2005 Revenge Of The Sith #59 release.
Hasbro have gone a stage further with figure creation this year and have added extra joints and movements to their figures for even greater poseability.
Commander Gree has head (rotational and vertical), shoulder (rotational and abductional), elbow (rotational and vertical), wrist (rotational and abductional), torso (rotational and vertical), hip (rotational and abductional), knee (rotational and vertical) and ankle (rotational and vertical) joints giving him a massive 28 movements of articulation. This is the first figure to have the extra wrist movement.
He comes equipped with a removable helmet, black blaster rifle, electrobinoculars, a comm antenna pack and there is a personalised figure stand which is the same design that we had in the 2006 The Saga Collection line.
An absolute must have for any Clone Army and those Kashyyyk dioramas.

Wicked!

Like I said this lego set is brillent for people who like glactic war!
My brother loves this lego model, but one thing I MUST say is that you can get it £8 cheaper on the lego website, come on amazon.

"Execute Order 66!"

Lego kick off their 2008 Star Wars series with another of the armoured walkers from Revenge Of The Sith with kit 7671: AT-AP Walker (All Terrain Assault Pod).
This model is a great representation of the walkers that you see stomping through the fungi jungles of Felucia. It features positionable upper legs, deployable third leg when using heavy mortar cannon which folds away when not in use, opening cockpit hatches, moveable mortar cannon and swivelling upper blaster cannon.
Each side of the Pod seats one Clone Trooper and one can sit on the upper blaster cannon. In the right side of the pod there is a rack which houses 2 heavy assault rifles.
You get two Clone Shock Trooper figures with the kit. Unlike previous issues, these have plain white trousers without the black waist bar in them.
The kit is composed of 380 pieces, not including the figures and weapons and measures 28cm long from aft leg to mortar tip, 17cm wide from foot to foot and 20.5cm high - without gunner in the upper seat.
It takes about 25 minutes to build and makes a very nice addition to any diorama, especially with the 2007 Clone Trooper Battle Pack. Lets hope they bring out the Trooper Carrier later in the year.

"Qui-Gon told me to stay in this cockpit so that's what I'm gonna do!"

Lego continue their 30th anniversary releases with this fantastic updated version on the Naboo N-1 Starfighter and Vulture Droid.
Originally released in the 1999-2000 run, this kit gives two models which are far superior to their predecessors.
The N-1 measures a good 36cm long with decals to provide detailing over the correct scale body. There is a firing missile in the lower hull which is launched with a trigger mechanism. The missile launcher is the same type that's in the Slave 1 kit from last year.
There is a droid compartment for an astromech unit, R2-D2 comes with the kit, and the bottom of the compartment opens to allow egress.
There is a landing plaform with ladder for the N-1.
The Vulture Droid is well constructed with loads of articulation that allow for the wings to be split open for flight, to launch the missiles inside (to be flicked with your fingers to fire), but best of all, to transform into the walking version. The head is very manoeuvreable to allow for loads of poses. It's 14 cm long in fighter mode and 14-16 cm high in droid mode depending on where you pose the head.
You get three figures with the kit, Anakin Skywalker, R2-D2 and a Naboo Pilot. You also get a pilot's flight helmet with moveable goggoles too. Due to Anakin's legs being the type that are given to small characters, he cannot sit in the N-1.
Construction time is about 30 minutes and this kit is a must have for any Star Wars Lego collection.

"Begin your bombing run now!"

Lego continue their collection for Star Wars' 30th Anniversary with this great updated kit of the Rebel Koensayr Y-Wing Starfighter.
Far superior to the original release back in 1999, this kit is the correct scale and is packed with features and detail.
The ship has an opening cockpit for Dutch Vander, positionable rotating top cannon, astromech compartment for a red R2 unit, 2 firing missiles and a bomb bay with 2 bombs. Dutch is armed with a black DL-17 blaster.
The bombs deploy by pulling a lever at the back (similar to the one in the ARC-170 kit - #7259) and the missiles are housed in each wing pylon and fire by flicking the back so they shoot out.
Through the use of loads of small detailed pieces the kit has a great look and finish and is a great accompliment to the X-Wing Fighter (6212) released last year.
There are over 400 pieces and it takes about 45 minutes to build - the thruster vectrals are a little fiddly and you have to make sure the alignment is correct for the stabilisers.
A great ship and a must have for any Rebel Fleet.

Best Miniature Set Yet

If you collect Star Wars miniatures you'll love this set as it has some of the best characters in it with such fan favourites as Darth Malak, Exar Kun, Bastilla Shan, Darth Nihlius, Yoda, Mace Windu, Darth Maul and more and is pretty much a very jedi/sith orientated set. It also has other characters such as the Republic Commandos, Dark Tropers, Clone Commanders and Sith Troopers all of which look very cool.

It also has some of the most powerful figures such as Exar Kunn and Ulic Qel-Droma for those who play the game but if you simply enjoy collecting and displaying your miniatures this has some of the most interesting looking characters. And we can't forget the Varactyl Wrangler, he just makes the set.

Miniatures in general are very durable and I've only broken one or two in the past and the game is somewhat educational being very tactical with necessary adding needed. I just love minatures in general because I can amass huge armies of figures and play some pretty heated games too which are a nice alternative to video games. The Force is strong in this set.

"Don't do it Anakin!"

Hasbro kick off their first releases of 2008's Complete Saga collection with a wave of figures from Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith. The first figure in the line is #01 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mustafar Duel.
This figure is one of the best Obi-Wan figures to date.
Hasbro have gone a stage further with figure creation this year and have added extra joints and movements to their figures for even greater poseability.
Obi-Wan has head (rotational and vertical), shoulder (rotational and abductional), elbow (rotational and vertical), wrist (rotational), torso (rotational and vertical), hip (rotational and abductional), knee (rotational and vertical) and ankle (rotational and vertical) joints giving him a massive 26 movements of articulation. This makes it a great figure for those Mustafar duel dioramas, especially for those who purchased the Mustafar Final Duel playset in 2005.
He comes armed with his trusty blue lightsabre and there is a personalised figure stand which is the same design that we had in the 2006 The Saga Collection line.
An excellent figure and a must have for any collection.