Recreate the Battle of Hoth!
It's the 10th anniversary of LEGO Star Wars , and Imperial forces are invading the Rebels' secret base on the ice planet Hoth! As Han Solo leaves for a mission on his tauntaun, snowtroopers attack with their heavy repeating blaster. It's up to the Rebel Alliance troopers to fight back with their missile-firing defense turret and trench with figure-flinging battle action. Includes 2 Snowtroopers, 2 Hoth Rebel Soldiers, Han Solo with Hoth gear, and the first-ever LEGO Tauntaun! Includes 5 minifigures: 2 snow troopers with E-web blaster, 2 Rebel troopers and Han Solo in Hoth winter gear! Features anti-infantry laser battery with opening turret door and flick fire missiles! First-ever LEGO Tauntaun also included! Turret is 3.5" (9cm) tall; trenches are 4.5" (11cm) long
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SET NAME: Echo Base
SET NUMBER: 7749
THEME: Star Wars
YEAR RELEASED: 2009
NUMBER OF PIECES: 155
PRICE: $29.99 CAN
The Empire Strikes Back was always my favourite Star Wars movie, and it still ranks in my top 10 all time favourite movies. So, when this set came out, I knew I wanted it. But when I saw the price, I balked. At close to 20 cents per piece I couldn't make it work. Fortunately, just before it disappeared from the store shelves last Christmas, it went on sale, and I got it. And I'm glad I did. On to the review.
First up, the box. We can see the Anniversary Edition markings, and logos.
The back of the box shows off some of the play features: The turret has a place on the top for a figure to sit, and opens ups for another to step out of the cold. It also has a flick fire missile mechanism. The snow bank has a launch mechanism so the Rebel troops can get launched when the AT-At blows the place up (AT-AT not included).
The contents of the box. 3 bags (not numbered) plus the Taun-Taun in a separate bag, the instruction manual and a lego club flier. No stickers.
A random page from the instruction manual. This set does not have the parts needed to complete the steps included, but the build is ridiculously easy to complete, so its not an issue.
Ok, the main reason to get this set. The Taun-Taun. The arms and horns are seperate pieces you attach, as it the saddle. The Taun-Taun is a good representation, but if I had any complaints, I would say that it should look furrier. This one looks a bit too smooth.
From the other side. The saddle has a clip to hold Han's gun (seen here)
The mini figures. This set comes with 2 Rebel Soldiers, Han Solo with Parka, and 2 Snow troopers. I think the Snow troopers are one of the best Lego renditions of a Star Wars figure. The Rebels have backpacks and new large goggles for the helmets. Honestly, I'm not sure what I think of the new goggles. The seem a bit off to me.
Here is Han minus the hood (revealing the details of his torso) and a snow trooper minus helmet. They have no faces! The horror!
You may have noticed that one of the snow troopers had no gun. This bad boy is the reason why. Who needs a blaster when you've got this? A very nice representation of the Imperial BFG.
"Say hello to my little friend!" The Imperials are ready to rock.
Now, the rebel turret and "snow bank" for lack of a better word. A very straight forward build, with lots a nice white parts including white cheese slopes. As shown on the back of the box, the turret opens up on top to allow a mini figure to sit down, I assume to man the turret and send some Imps back to their maker.
Here we see the turret opened up and a trooper standing inside. Its a pretty tight fit in there though.
There are two spots on the back of the snow bank for the troops to stand. If you press down on the white square between them, it will launch them off to simulate a direct hit from the enemy. It works pretty well.
And the complete set.
Final thoughts. This is a nice set, with the cool Taun-Taun, 5 very nice mini figures, good parts, an easy build and good play features. It loses all its marks for the high price per piece ratio. I understand the fact that this is a licenced theme and that it has a rather large custom piece (the Taun-Taun) but still. Because of the price, I have to give it a 3.5/5.
3.5/5.