Buy Now: $49.99 USA | $64.99 Canada | £40.99 UK
REVIEW 7930 – Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship
The January 2011 SW Lego sets came up on Legoshop a few days before Christmas. I was most interested in this set, as it looked like a relatively unique addition to the Star Wars: Clone Wars Lego line. Three of the four included minifigures are also exclusive to this set.
Set Details
7930 – Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship
Pieces = 389
Minifigures = 4
MSRP = $49.99
Price per piece = 12.8 cents/piece
Box
The front of the box showcases the ship against an art background. A small inset on the center front reveals that the engines rotate 90 degrees. In recent releases, Lego has certainly advertised to the minifig collectors and an orange bubble highlights the figures exclusive to this set.
The January 2011 SW Lego sets came up on Legoshop a few days before Christmas. I was most interested in this set, as it looked like a relatively unique addition to the Star Wars: Clone Wars Lego line. Three of the four included minifigures are also exclusive to this set.
Set Details
7930 – Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship
Pieces = 389
Minifigures = 4
MSRP = $49.99
Price per piece = 12.8 cents/piece
Box
The front of the box showcases the ship against an art background. A small inset on the center front reveals that the engines rotate 90 degrees. In recent releases, Lego has certainly advertised to the minifig collectors and an orange bubble highlights the figures exclusive to this set.
The back of the box shows the ship in a landed position with the engines rotated up. Several small insets highlight different functionality of the ship. As with the 2010 SW lines, the right rear of the box shows some of the other January 2011 releases. Comparing it to 2010 boxes, these advertisements seem a little smaller than before.
Opening the Box & Minifigures
Inside the box, there are three bags, one instruction book and a small sheet of stickers.
The “#1” bags contain our minifigures, accessories and the cockpit build. Bag #2 contains the parts for the body and wings of the gunship. Bag #3 is devoted to the engine assemblies.
Four minifigures are included with this set: Aurra Sing, Embo, Sugi & an Assassin Droid. As noted on the box, the three bounty hunters are all exclusive to this set. Sugi has a rather plain appearance, but Embo and Aurra are both nicely done. Embo’s hat is screened on the top and Aurra’s hair piece perfectly captures her long topknot.
All three have torsos with printing on the front and back. Embo’s is the most elaborate with fine detail. Interestingly, Sugi’s head is printed on the reverse with a stripe of purple hair. Nice touch! I’ve seen plenty of double-printed faces but can’t recall non-face details on the back of a head.
The Build
The cockpit builds up first and went fairly quickly. There was nothing too challenging here. The side panels of the cockpit are mounted on a Technic swinging door assembly reminiscent of a big rig cab.
The finished cockpit has a blocky feel to it. The internal space is sufficient for a single minifigure.
The body of the ship was the most interesting part of the build. The set uses a sliding mechanism on the torso to control the movement of the engines. Also of note are the colors used in this part of the ship. It includes red, dark green, yellow and blue. Although some of these are only accent colors, it still creates a nice visual appearance.
I was surprised when building the small cargo box. The instructions showed an elaborate 2x2 plate and I went to the sticker sheet looking for the appropriate sticker. Imagine my shock when I found that it was a printed piece!
It looks nice, IMHO.
Once the body of the ship is done, the engines come together quickly and the build is over. The engines themselves are similar to those on the most recent iteration of the Republic Gunship and use several different circular and cylindrical pieces. They have a somewhat hollow feel to them.
Here is the final ship with engines in flight position.
And here with engines in the vertical/landing position.
One note: the weight of the engines make them sag slightly when they are in flight position.
Pro’s
Interesting color scheme
Good selection of minifigures; most exclusive to set
Varied build and resulting functionality
Con’s
Somewhat blocky appearance
Playability concerns
Price
Final Thoughts
Price continues to be a concern in the SW line, with this set coming in at almost 13 cents/piece. I also let my six year old son “assess” the playability of all the sets and this one probably won’t hold up well with younger builders. The front of the cockpit is only affixed by a small SNOT build and the engines were already sagging minutes after the build is done. It is probably best displayed with engines in the landing position.
Overall though, I am very happy with this set. As a SW Lego fan, it is nice to see ships that haven’t been remade 4~6 times already be released. The appearance of the ship isn’t the most sleek, but it accurately captures the image from the show. In a time where it seems we get a new Jedi Starfighter every six months, the unique aspects of this set are appreciated. The new minifigures are also very well done.
