Star Wars Advent Calendar - Day 8
Posted by CapnRex101,
With the exception of Babu Frik on day one, this Advent Calendar has settled in to providing little pieces of scenery from Babu Frik's workshop and droids to populate it.
Let's see which appears today...
Buzz Droids were introduced onscreen in Revenge of the Sith, attaching themselves to Republic starfighters and sabotaging their onboard systems. These droids have appeared several times in LEGO form, although not since 2014. With that in mind, I was hoping for a major advance, but the design from 75014 Vulture Droid remains my favourite. The dome-shaped eyes really need to be printed and the circular saw underneath is far too big.
Overall - I am fairly satisfied with this Buzz Droid, but it desperately needs decorated eyes.
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We haven’t gotten one of these since 75041 and 75044, so of course that’s nice, but it seems like a missed opportunity not to print the armor shells. I mean, even the 2005 variant had special printing for those.
And I agree with the Capn, the saw is way too big.
It’s a cool build, but that lack of detail just brings it down a little bit for me.
Stewie Griffin: Nothing ever bothers you, does it?
New Brian: No, not really. I like everything.
Stewie Griffin: God, he's a bigger buzzkill than Buzz Killington.
Buzz Killington: [pan over to him] Stewie, do you know why W.S. Gilbert was frequently drunk on his trans-Atlantic crossings?
Stewie Griffin: No.
Buzz Killington: Because he was quartered on the port side.
[chuckling at his joke]
Buzz Killington: Now that I've got you, let's both revisit the birth of the Doyle Carte Opera Company.
Stewie Griffin: [disdainfully pinching the bridge of his nose] Ahh!
Disney: 4.5/5p
Friends: 4/5p
Minecraft: A strange, white beaver 3/5p
Harry Potter: Nice build 4.5/5p
Star Wars: 2.5/5p
A definite improvement over some of the other things in this set so far, but I can't help but feel that even the version of the Buzz Droid from 20 years ago was better.
Someone in the comments of the day with the chair mentioned days 9 and 10 being really bad, looking forward to seeing those articles, whatever they are, lol.
You know what's awful is when you find an MOC of a small droid that's way better than TLG's own brick built version. Somebody out there has made creative use of Boba Fett's viewfinder pieces to get much smaller legs for a Buzz Droid.
That's a circular saw? I assumed it was supposed to be a stand. I've assembled a Babu Frik workshop from this calendar and Buzzy there is in the corner as a relic on display.
Other than the 2x2 dish and the 1x2 bar on top I like this design. With a few tweaks I’ll probably use this for my mocs. Also nice to see a RotS inclusion despite Lego Star Wars mostly ignoring its anniversary for the rest of this year
@CommanderR3x said:
"Other than the 2x2 dish and the 1x2 bar on top I like this design. With a few tweaks I’ll probably use this for my mocs. Also nice to see a RotS inclusion despite Lego Star Wars mostly ignoring its anniversary for the rest of this year"
Well, it's not exactly a fun film once you get to the second half. Although we desperately need a new Magna Guard figure.
Oof, poor thing’s been shish-kebabed
I saw this advent calendar for sale at £13.99 at the weekend. Even at that price I left it.
So this is... an alarm-clock? Fancy. And inherently evil, so I guess it's an Empire-thing.
The 2 antenna pieces on each side are right up against one another with no space between, seems almost illegal that those 2 bases for the antenna on each side are riding against each other
@BabuBrick said:
"And I agree with the Capn, the saw is way too big."
First, it has to be determined if that’s actually a saw. Someone in my LUG designed a special variant of another official buzz droid for me, and it had the cone on the base, but used a zip line grip for the saw. Having just seen that version, I can’t see the radar dish as anything but a foot.
Well, maybe the bottom is a stand.
@PurpleDave said:
" @BabuBrick said:
"And I agree with the Capn, the saw is way too big."
First, it has to be determined if that’s actually a saw. Someone in my LUG designed a special variant of another official buzz droid for me, and it had the cone on the base, but used a zip line grip for the saw. Having just seen that version, I can’t see the radar dish as anything but a foot."
I could see it being either one, but judging by the fact that both https://brickset.com/minifigs/sw0136/buzz-droid-dark-bluish-gray-dome-tops-circular-blade-saw and https://brickset.com/minifigs/sw0533/buzz-droid-dark-bluish-gray-dome-tops-zipline-handle have an obvious depiction of a saw, and because it's such an essential part of the Buzz Droid's anatomy, that's what led me to assume that the cone / dish combo on this one was indeed supposed to be a saw. I might be wrong though, I don't know. Either way, I'm probably going to display mine without it.
I can't help but feel that they could've done better. It really would have helped if the domes had been printed at least.
But yeah, the bottom line would have clearly been broken into pieces if they did thaaaaat.
And yeah, I'm going for the 'it's a stand, not a saw' explanation. Because otherwise it would be far too sad of a depiction
Day 8 (100 years of Sammy Davis jr.):
0 points (+ 17 from yesterday = 17): Dy - Like on day 1, it makes me angry that TLG thinks the kiddolls are sufficient. It's like telling small kids right from the start that they're so little cherished as customers that its okay to scam them. A shame, because the graphic design is decent!
1 (+ 21 = 22): Fr - Festive, yes but not much else.
2 (+ 18 = 20): Ct - After so many years, the snow plough is the weapon rack of City ACs.
3 (+19 = 22): Fr - So lo-res it could be a gargoyle. Then let's make it a gargoyle!
4 (+ 8 = 12): MC - Pretty good calico cat for the blocky appearance! I first thought it was a marten and in my head it will stay one. If the MC-AC has one appeal, then it has to be the high propability of misinterpreting its models!
5 (+24 = 29): SW - Buzz droid! They never come alone... except this one, how did it survive its decomission? -> Another story starts here!
@KyloBen1012 said:
"The 2 antenna pieces on each side are right up against one another with no space between, seems almost illegal that those 2 bases for the antenna on each side are riding against each other"
Put the 5-sided brick on the anti-stud on the 1x2 brick, not the bottom.
@jkb said:"3 (+19 = 22): Fr - So lo-res it could be a gargoyle. Then let's make it a gargoyle!"
I think you meant HP, not Fr.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @jkb said:"3 (+19 = 22): Fr - So lo-res it could be a gargoyle. Then let's make it a gargoyle!"
I think you meant HP, not Fr."
I like how you think. Is is meant to be HP.
@BabuBrick said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @BabuBrick said:
"And I agree with the Capn, the saw is way too big."
First, it has to be determined if that’s actually a saw. Someone in my LUG designed a special variant of another official buzz droid for me, and it had the cone on the base, but used a zip line grip for the saw. Having just seen that version, I can’t see the radar dish as anything but a foot."
I could see it being either one, but judging by the fact that both https://brickset.com/minifigs/sw0136/buzz-droid-dark-bluish-gray-dome-tops-circular-blade-saw and https://brickset.com/minifigs/sw0533/buzz-droid-dark-bluish-gray-dome-tops-zipline-handle have an obvious depiction of a saw, and because it's such an essential part of the Buzz Droid's anatomy, that's what led me to assume that the cone / dish combo on this one was indeed supposed to be a saw. I might be wrong though, I don't know. Either way, I'm probably going to display mine without it."
The orientation doesn’t make any sense, for a buzz droid saw, either. Buzz Random Orbital Sander, maybe.
@PurpleDave said:
" @BabuBrick said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @BabuBrick said:
"And I agree with the Capn, the saw is way too big."
First, it has to be determined if that’s actually a saw. Someone in my LUG designed a special variant of another official buzz droid for me, and it had the cone on the base, but used a zip line grip for the saw. Having just seen that version, I can’t see the radar dish as anything but a foot."
I could see it being either one, but judging by the fact that both https://brickset.com/minifigs/sw0136/buzz-droid-dark-bluish-gray-dome-tops-circular-blade-saw and https://brickset.com/minifigs/sw0533/buzz-droid-dark-bluish-gray-dome-tops-zipline-handle have an obvious depiction of a saw, and because it's such an essential part of the Buzz Droid's anatomy, that's what led me to assume that the cone / dish combo on this one was indeed supposed to be a saw. I might be wrong though, I don't know. Either way, I'm probably going to display mine without it."
The orientation doesn’t make any sense, for a buzz droid saw, either."
I mean, the saw does face down in the film. It’s the bulkiness of it that bothers me more.
I thought it was a buzz droid that had been repurposed into a vacuum cleaner!
A glorified hat stand! I must keep abreast of this.......
@BabuBrick said:
"I mean, the saw does face down in the film. It’s the bulkiness of it that bothers me more."
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N7oPDmJ_Tfc&pp=ygUKQnV6eiBkcm9pZA%3D%3D
Okay, I was thinking more along the line’s of Artoo’s saw from Ep6, possibly because the zip line handle emulates that fairly well. The only point in that clip where I can even see what’s going on is when one of them is squaring off with Artoo, and just threatening him with the cutter. It looks more like a hybrid between a circular saw and a drill, with the little petals able to splay open or close into a point.
Most iterations of the buzz droid has the saw on a foot or whatever it's legs are, and the prominent base underneath makes it almost seem like they were going for a clone wars vibe, cause in that show they have a pretty prominent base under its head thing, but idk
Between R7 yesterday and this, I'm getting nostalgic for 7751.
I also thought that was a stand, but looking at pictures I think it might be an attempt at the proboscis-type part, which is a tube with claw and spike on the end. All the Lego versions made me think the circular saw was much more prominent, and not just one of the various implements at the ends of the legs.
@KyloBen1012 said:
"The 2 antenna pieces on each side are right up against one another with no space between, seems almost illegal that those 2 bases for the antenna on each side are riding against each other"
I agree. Mine wouldn't fit together properly as pictured. Needed a 1x1 on the top stud of the 5-sided brick. Or move the 5gsided up half a stud & attack to the bar between the anti-studs.
I found this picture:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/File:MarkOnePistoekaSabotageDroid-Thrawn2.png
This is apparently an unusual model of buzz droid, but regardless, it does appear to have a little round landing foot/stand on its "proboscis."