Author: Inger Fountain

Star Wars Lego Set 10179, The Millennium Falcon, is part of Lego's Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) that has wowed fans with large models, attention to detail and high collectability. The Millennium Falcon is not only the largest of these sets ever released it is the largest Lego set ever, with over 5000 pieces. For Star Wars fans there is the added bonus that this ship is built to minifigure scale. So that means that the minifigures that come with the set are in correct size proportion to the huge ship that transports them across the galaxy.

The minifigures are probably the least interesting part of the set, given the appeal of the ship, but it is nice that Lego sought to include minifigures with the set as previous UCS releases have not included any figures.  There are five figures, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Obi wan Kenobi and Chewbacca all in Episode Four, A New Hope garb. It is a good selection of figures that could have been improved by adding the final two characters that travelled with this crew on their travels, the two droids R2-D2 and C3PO.

The Millennium Falcon ship is a Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 freighter and was won by the smuggler Han Solo in a game of Sabacc. The person he won the ship off was none other than Lando Calrissian. The Lego model itself is obviously very big and would warrant a significant display area if it is to be put on show.  The ship is over 33" long, 22" wide and 8" tall (84cm long x 56cm wide x 21cm tall). And given the piece count this is not the kind of set that you will be assembling very often, so defiantly decide where it is going to go before you start building!

The detail on the UCS model is beautiful and the attention given to even the smallest surface extends all over the ship. A large variety of small pieces are applied to the top surface to give it the realistic look. Given all the attention paid to the outside it is a shame that there is almost zero playability inside the ship.

Two people can sit side by side with another two people in a row behind them. There is a boarding ramp underneath and a gunner chair at the top. That is about it. Granted, much of the inner space is taken up with construction pieces to keep this large and wide set together but it would have been nice to see a dejarik table or some sleeping quarters etc. But this is a minor quibble.

The set comes with a large spiral bound instruction book and will take some hours to build. It also features a display card with detailed ship specifications of the ship to accentuate the display. Overall it is a highly recommended for those with the money to afford the $499 model and the space to store it.

Author: Inger Fountain

Released in 2008 The Star Wars Lego Set 7676, Republic Attack Gunship is one of the largest sets released in that year and one of the first sets to feature the new Clone Wars minifigures. The Republic Attack Gunship was featured prominently in the movies Episodes 2 and 3, with the beginning of the Clone Wars. This set centers around events in the Star Wars Clone wars Television series, noted by the addition of the minifigure Asajj Ventress, a feature villain in the series.

The Republic Gunship comes with 1034pieces and five figures. New to this set are the newly released exclusive figures of Asajj Ventress and Jedi Master Plo Kloon. Both figures have a high level of detailing and are instantly recognisable as their cartoon counterparts. Asajj comes with a skirt and two curved red lightsabers while Plo Kloon comes with a distinctive custom head signifying his origins as a Kel Dor male from the planet Dorin.

Other figures include a regular clone, the Clone Commander Cody and the Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi. Commander Cody is also exclusive to this set and is distinguished by orange markings on his helmet and torso. The set also comes with a brown and black clone BARC speeder which can be stored and deployed from the rear of the Gunship.

The gunship has a surprising number of playable features including opening troop bay doors, removable command station and healing bacta chamber, movable cannons, spy droids, flick missiles, the speeder bike and multiple sticker decals to create different gunships much like those featured in the Dropship (set 10179). There is a significant amount of space inside the ship to play and move your clone troops from one area to another.

Overall the Republic Gunship is a fun and very attractive set, both as a swooshable vehicle and a ground based center for play. The vehicle measures 14" (36cm) long, 17" (43cm) wide and 7" (18cm) high and retails for $119, well worth the price as a set for young and seasoned fans.

Author: Inger Fountain

The Star Wars Lego set, Republic Attack Shuttle is a model of the Nu-class attack shuttle as featured in the Clone Wars television series. The shuttle is a precursor to the Imperial Shuttle featured in the Original Star Wars movies, notably Episode Six, delivering both Darth Vader and The Emperor to the New Death Star. This shuttle first appeared in the Clone Wars movie, shipping Anakin Skywalker's new padawan, Ahsoka Tano  to Christophsis during a heavy battle.

The set comes with only three minifigures including a clone trooper, a clone pilot and the first Mace Windu since 2005's Clone Turbo Tank and thankfully there is no light-up lightsaber gimmick on this new figure. As part of the Clone wars TV series line of figures he has different, slightly cartoony, facial details but still retains his signature purple lightsaber.

Priced at $59.99, this set comes with 636 pieces so it is a surprisingly large set. The shuttle vehicle measures 9.5" (24cm) long and has an 18" (45cm) wingspan. Living up to its name the attack shuttle has a number of weapons including spinning turrets at the front and a large array of flick fire missiles on the top that are activated by a button at the back while bombs can be dropped from an area under the wings. The wings lift up, much like the Imperial Shuttle and the V-19 Torrent model (7674), but there are no gears so they simply fall down into place.

The opening cockpit fits two clone troopers comfortably and there is a concealed mechanism to open a storage area which constitutes the top and middle of the ship. Inside there is room for Mace Windu and anther clone to sit.

Overall this is a surprise of a set. While not as large as the Republic Gunship (7676) or the AT-TE (7675) it is still quite a significant set with many tight design features and a high degree of playability, not to mention a very cool Mace Windu figure.