Review: 75163 Krennic's Imperial Shuttle
Posted by CapnRex101,
The Delta-class T-3c Shuttle is among my favourite vehicles from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and I have therefore been eager to take a closer look at 75163 Krennic's Imperial Shuttle.
I like the style of the Microfighters very much and this set seems to strike an ideal balance between the exaggeration of certain features and the accuracy of its overall design.
Minifigure
Director Krennic only appears in 75156 Krennic's Imperial Shuttle and it would have been great to see him here as well. However, an Imperial Shuttle Pilot is included instead and this is certainly an appropriate minifigure, although a more interesting character such as Director Krennic would have been preferable. The figure is fairly similar to that in 75033 Star Destroyer, sporting a black flight suit with some wrinkled fabric on the front and back of the torso as well as the legs.
The pilot wears a headset and a black kepi which is printed with a silver code disc. This suits the minifigure very well and I like the relative simplicity of his uniform, particularly given the metallic silver highlights on the belt and the hat. He is armed with a standard blaster pistol, as is typical for a Microfighter set.
The Completed Model
The pyramidal shape of the shuttle has been rendered perfectly using a combination of slopes and the wings can be angled to form a consistent shape from the peak of the hull to the laser cannons at the tip of each wing. A tiny windscreen protects the cockpit and a trans-red plate is left exposed to break up the otherwise monochromatic forward profile, perhaps recalling the white spotlights which line the front of the vessel in the movie. A pair of stud shooters are mounted beneath the fuselage and these are integrated well but the dark bluish grey brackets look a little out of place.
The engine nacelles glow blue at the rear of the shuttle and these surround the dorsal wing which is relatively short to match the design of other Microfighters, as are the folding wings. The dorsal wing is attached using a click hinge so wobbles very slightly during flight but it looks splendid given the limited space available behind the pilot's seat and I like the textured brick between the engines too.
Each wing can be folded up for landing, just like in the film. This configuration looks somewhat awkward given the exposed dark bluish grey plates and the positioning of the hinges, although I appreciate the ability to fold the wings at all. The model can be displayed in either configuration as the wing tips are three studs in width and the entire model can be supported by them, as shown in the images above.
Overall
This is a great little set. 75160 U-wing will probably prove to me the most popular of the new Microfighters because of the exceptional minifigure included but this is a superior model and I enjoy the idea of such an imposing craft being reduced to this comical scale. The angular profile of the shuttle has been captured remarkably well and the few grey and trans-red elements serve to break up the black colour scheme very effectively.
The Imperial Shuttle Pilot is a good minifigure and is certainly appropriate for the set, although Director Krennic would have been more appealing as a means of acquiring a major character at a relatively low price. Nevertheless, this is a great set and I would recommend it quite highly among the four Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Microfighters.
I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your thoughts on the set in the comments below.
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20 comments on this article
Alright, now I really want to see a microfighter of the Imperial shuttle from return of the Jedi as it would go along perfectly with this model
First thing that pops in my mind regarding the pyramid shape is the Recognizer from TRON. I do think that all the solid color pieces should be black. Looking forward to adding this little MF to my collection, along with the rest of Series 4.
This little ship is indeed splendid, will the Rogue One sets review and how they compare to the movie be coming soon?
Would've probably been a guaranteed purchase for me if it'd had a Krennic minifigure, but as is neither the craft nor the pilot are interesting enough make me want to part with my money.
Will there be a Rouge One What's Missing sometime soon?
Thx for this great review, i will pick that up in days certainly
Each of the parts seem kinda off scale. I know it a microfighter, but the middle section just seems too big for how short the wings are. Y-Wing is probably the only fighter I will get this time around.
Yes I like this one a lot but I'd swap the 4x2 grey plates on the wings for 2x2 inverted tiles or black slides for a cleaner finish with the wings up
Rogue One What is missing (of the top of my head) ;
- AT-ACT - the most obvious one, has been a few years since our last AT-AT (75054), that for me like 75055 (Star Destroyers should always be on sale) were retired far too quickly.
- Imperial Cargo Shuttle SW-0608
- Yavin IV Base
- Attack on Eadu (yes I want a Galen Erso minifig)
I have not listed Scarif, because there is a Battle on Scarif set but I think, you quite easily have a nice set relating specifically to the Scarif Citadel Tower that combines the vault room, with the Communications Dish. Figures included would be Jyn, Cassian, K-2SO, Krennic and perhaps a Trooper or 2.
Being the 40th anniversary of A New Hope, I really really want either a UCS :
- Tantive IV (been 7 years since the last one....and I wasn't collecting then)
- Star Destroyer
I know the fig included is labelled a shuttle pilot, but I could have sworn I saw two regular looking tie fighter pilots walking away from the shuttle shortly after it had landed at the secret Death Star development place (whatever that was called).
I would've been very surprised if they included Krennic in this set as he is a selling point of the bigger version and doesn't actually fly the shuttle. Nice set though.
@lego maker homeboy - That will be published during the summer.
@dreamfall31 - The exaggeration of certain features is consistent across the Microfighters range so I think the proportions are appropriate for this set.
@Brainslugged - Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide indicates that it is flown by a pair of specialised shuttle pilots.
@AussieSamurai I've got a feeling that a UCS Millennium Falcon will be the ideal choice for a celebration of the 40th anniversary ;)
That would be a really, really nice mini model with a couple of slight modifications. I understand why they included stud shooters and grey plates, I just don't like them... but that's not a major thing. I like this and the Y-wing quite a lot.
LEGO really seems to be stepping up their game with small sets this year.
I get why they didn't include Krennic in this set, so whatever. I'm more annoyed by the full size shuttle set not having any pilot figure!
I'll be taking this
So I need two of these to get enough pilots for 75156, to replace the Death Troopers shown flying the shuttle? Fine by me! I already have one and it's nice :-)
I think I'll replace all the dark grey bits with black where possible.
Has anyone else noticed that LEGO is using the 'new minifigure glow' on the packaging, behind every minifigure in the Star Wars Winter 2017 line yet some are not new? In years past, this was a great way to know that a figure was newly designed or tweaked...yet...in this batch, the Y-Wing shows the Stormtrooper and Blue Squadron Pilot with background glow, yet I can not see any difference from the 2014 non-Rebels variant and the one that came with the U-Wing set in 2016. This is also the case for Chopper in the updated Phantom and R2 on Yoda's Starfighter. I'm not sure if Obi-wan, Qui-gon, Maul, Yoda, Stormtrooper and Tie Pilot are also repeats? Anyone know? Really odd that LEGO would break with tradition.
Have to agree that the U-wing micro fighter is the best of this series, but this is a close second
If this had Krennic, I'd buy it. Without him, I'm skipping this set.