Recommended set for $40-50 budget?

[ShadowFlameZ]

Hello all, I'm relatively new to the forums, but I had a question so I decided I'd ask what you guys thought.
So my parents allowed me a $40 budget (maybe $50 if I can convince them hard enough) for a lego, and with Star Wars being my favorite theme (besides Bionicle, which was sadly ended), I thought I'd look into a Star Wars set. I've looked through S@H at some prospective purchases, and here are a few I've found. Since I haven't bought a Star Wars set in a while because of the expensive prices, I was hoping you guys could give me some feedback 'bout any of 'em and what you'd recommend and whatnot.
Anywho here's the list, in no particular order:
1. Mace Windu's Jedi Starfighter - Mace Windu has always been one of my favorites, along with a few others whom I will mention later on. Also, that tactical droid is a nice touch, and I don't have any starfighters yet.
2. Battle for Geonosis - The main reason I looked at this set was that this was the cheapest set I could find with Captain Rex (another favorite of mine), and Luminara Unduli is a nice add-on as well. Plus the design of that large vehicle (I forget, is it a turret?) is pretty cool as well.
3. General Grievous Starfighter - General Grievous (one of the many favorites of mine) is the main reason I looked at this, along with Nahdar Vebb (who looks alot like Admiral Ackbar). It's a shame that Kit Fisto wasn't included in this one, else I would have definitely gotten it.
4. Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship - EMBO! Embo is just awesome in my opinion, and the fact that he's an exclusive to this set (so far) really appealed to me. Also that dropship design is pretty cool. I already have an Assassin Droid from the battle pack though.
5. Cad Bane's Speeder - Cad Bane is the last of the many favorites mentioned in my post. A set with he and Embo would have been really cool in my opinion. The rare Senate Commandos are also pretty cool in their blue armor and whatnot. But I already have an Assassin Droid, and I'm not sure how much there is to do with that ship.
6. X-Wing Fighter - From what I've seen on these forums, this set is supposedly a very popular purchase. Unfortunately, due to it being relatively old, I'm unsure if I'll be able to find one, but the number of minifigures in this is quite a good deal.

So yeah, that's my list (Sorry if it's rather long, I got a little excited and went overboard haha). What are your thoughts?
-ShadowFlameZ

[koromo]

I own all but the first one.

6. If I were to only have a singular set it would be the X-wing but acquiring it now may have its challenges.

5. At full retail price I suggest against Cad Bane's Speeder. Aurra Sing should have been in this set.

4. The assault ship is a neat design and the crew are a major draw to this set. However only two can fly in the ship, assuming you mash the droid into the cargo cage.

3. Massive ship, especially compared to its initial variant, Grievous is well designed and fits better in this fighter.

2. Its an okay set, TRU has this marked up to $50, and I have yet to see them move off the shelf, except when I attacked it with a coupon. When built it seems rather small for the asking price.

1. Definately on my wish list though the fighter seems less elegant than the rest of the ships in the line. I hope we see more of the tactical driod.

[ncbarrett]

You can still find the x-wing at TRU and if you use the 20% off coupon brings it down to reasonable pricing.

facebook 20% off, just have to like TRU to get coupon, but expires the 14th so use it this weekend.

http://pub.vitrue.com/6R2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ShadowFlameZ]

I looked on the TRU site and all I could find were the Battle for Geonosis (marked up to $50 from $40 as you guys mentioned), General Grievous' Starfighter (marked up to $55 from $50), and the Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship (marked up to $53 dollars from $50).
I checked Walmart and Target sites as well, and besides finding the Cad Bane Speeder, I haven't been able to find the X-Wing or Mace Windu's Starfighter.

[ncbarrett]

... I haven't been able to find the X-Wing or Mace Windu's Starfighter.

x-wing is TRU exclusive and I saw it in store the other day, but it is not on website anymore

[1brickshyofcrazy]

Last time I was at TRU B/M they had a few x-wings left at 2 stores but nothing at the other 2 stores.

The x-wing's a nice set and it's been around for a while now so I'm not surprised it's finally being retired.

I haven't gotten around yet to getting the Battle for Geonosis or the Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship yet but the rest are nice.

[ShadowFlameZ]

So I went to my local WalMart hoping to find the Mace Windu's Starfighter.
DISAPPOINTMENT! We couldn't find any so we went to find one of the workers there who was nice enough to call their local supplier, who said that they were out. So sad :(. However the guy there said that you can order online for free shipping delivered to the local walmart.
Then when I went to Toys R' Us (Armed with that 20% off coupon and a $10 gift card) I saw that they were out of the General Grievous Starfighter and the Battle of Geonosis (the latter of which surprised me)! More disappointment. Also the X-Wing Fighter was priced at $60 bucks! Seemed a little excessive to me. Luckily they still had the Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship for $53, which we successfully got reduced to a reasonable $35, for the win! :D However, I did notice one other set that caught my attention, the Sith Nightspeeder.
So now I have 2 questions.
1. Is that Sith Nightspeeder a good buy? (in comparison to the MW Starfighter and the BHAG)
2. Should I keep the Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship, or return it in exchange for one of the other two (mentioned in the previous question)?

Thanks a bunch,
ShadowFlameZ

[unclephn]

So now I have 2 questions.
1. Is that Sith Nightspeeder a good buy? (in comparison to the MW Starfighter and the BHAG)
2. Should I keep the Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship, or return it in exchange for one of the other two (mentioned in the previous question)?

The three sets you've mentioned are all good buys, but between them, I would either stick with the Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship or Mace Windu's Jedi Starfighter.

I'm a fan of the Jedi Starfighters, so I enjoyed putting this set together. While it's colours and design aren't as attractive as some of the other Jedi Starfighters (ie. Anakin's, Plo Koon's, even Ahsoka's), it's still pretty awesome because it's Mace Windu! And the addition of the two battle droid STAP's is nice.

The Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship, is a much more fun and enjoyable build. The design of the ship itself is unique and unlike any other ship in the Star Wars line. Also on the upside are the minifigs, Aurra Sing and Embo in particular. The downside is that the ship can only hold two of the four minifigs that come in this set.

As for the Sith Nightspeeder, it's the most inexpensive set out of the three, so it has that going for it. The main draw to this set would be the minifigs. For people like me who are relatively new to Lego, it's an excellent opportunity to get Asajj Ventress, and the brand new Savage Opress.

Hope these tidbits of info help in your decision making!

[ShadowFlameZ]

Okay so here are my thoughts so far, though I am still relatively undecided.
Sith Nightspeeder - The main reason I would get this would be for Savage (and to a lesser extent Asajj), though I regret that if I had planned this out earlier then I could have reduced the price from $28 to like $15 (using the coupon and gift card I had used for the Bounty Hunter Set). I guess I could recreate Savage using Darth Maul and some Viking/Knights parts, maybe. Anakin is Anakin, I don't have much need (or want lol) for him, though the more lightsabers could be useful...
Mace Windu's Starfighter - Mace Windu and Tactical Droid are really cool, though the starfighter itself seems kinda small, and I already got some STAPs in a battle pack, and also this would be the most costly of the 3 ($40 vs $33 vs $28, not including tax).
Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship - Aurra and Embo are both badass, though like with Savage I could probably make my own version of Embo. This is also the one i spent the 20% off coupon and the $10 gift card on, and the ship has a neat design.

Thoughts?

[chris2348]

I would go for two smaller sets. I think Luke's Landspeeder and the Sith Nightspeeder are two great choices. Good minifigs in both sets.

[ShadowFlameZ]

I got the original Luke's Landspeeder way back when, so I have Ben and Luke. And I got that Escape Pod with it, so I also got C3PO and R2D2. Thanks for the idea though :).
Any other thoughts?

[chris2348]

I would go with the Sith Nightspeeder then. If you have any of The Clone Wars sets, go with the Bounty Hunter Gunship. The Nightspeeder looks great on its own. You could see if they could give you back the coupon and the gift card. They may :)

[ShadowFlameZ]

I dunno, Toys R' Us can be stingy at times haha.
But to be honest that nightspeeder thing itself doesn't look like it has much play value to it (no offense to any owners of it). I'd practically be paying 30 bucks for 2 minifigures haha. Any owners correct me if I'm wrong please. I probably am since I don't actually own it haha.

[1brickshyofcrazy]

ShadowFlameZ if you can check out Target this week as they are having a sale on all SW sets and not just the ones in newspaper AD but other SW sets as well.

I dunno, Toys R' Us can be stingy at times haha.
But to be honest that nightspeeder thing itself doesn't look like it has much play value to it (no offense to any owners of it). I'd practically be paying 30 bucks for 2 minifigures haha. Any owners correct me if I'm wrong please. I probably am since I don't actually own it haha.

[unclephn]

But to be honest that nightspeeder thing itself doesn't look like it has much play value to it (no offense to any owners of it). I'd practically be paying 30 bucks for 2 minifigures haha. Any owners correct me if I'm wrong please. I probably am since I don't actually own it haha.

The two 'pods' that the minifigs sit in can disconnect from the ship and function as individual speeders. At first, I wasn't too crazy about it's design, but when I found out it could break out into individual speeders, I definitely liked it a lot more.

[CoMmanderC]

Why dont you get a few battlepacks and increase your army or go ahead and get the geonosian starfighter,or save for 2012. :P

[ShadowFlameZ]

ShadowFlameZ if you can check out Target this week as they are having a sale on all SW sets and not just the ones in newspaper AD but other SW sets as well.

Yeah I went to Target but there weren't many good deals there, just a couple bucks off already expensive sets. Nothing as good as the Toys R' Us deal in my opinion. :(

The two 'pods' that the minifigs sit in can disconnect from the ship and function as individual speeders. At first, I wasn't too crazy about it's design, but when I found out it could break out into individual speeders, I definitely liked it a lot more.

Huh. Okay I'll see, I might try and get it later on (since it's a relatively new set I don't think it should be discontinued any time soon). Thanks for the input! :)

Why dont you get a few battlepacks and increase your army or go ahead and get the geonosian starfighter,or save for 2012. :P

Hahahaha CoMmanderC that's what I've been doing for the past few months/years since all the Star Wars sets became overpriced. I got one old Droid Battlepack, the Assassin Droid Battlepack, and the Hoth Imperials Battlepack. That Commando Droids vs ARC Troopers battlepack looks very promising, if it should be a true set.

So disappointing though, that the Mace Windu's Starfighter is like nowhere to be found, else I would reconsider my decision (though the Gunship is cheaper so I'm probably going to stick with that).