Review: 75449 Siege of Mandalore Battle Pack
Posted by CapnRex101,
The Siege of Mandalore serves as the climax of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and LEGO Star Wars already includes a number of sets based on the battle. However, the Mandalorian factions have received relatively scant coverage in LEGO sets, ironically.
75449 Siege of Mandalore Battle Pack goes some way to improving the situation, as two of Maul's Mandalorian commandos are provided. The minifigures are not without controversy though, as the Mandalorians' visors are silver instead of black and these Clone Troopers are perhaps unnecessary, so soon after their dedicated Battle Pack.
Summary
75449 Siege of Mandalore Battle Pack, 116 pieces.
£17.99 / $22.99 / €19.99 | 15.5p / 19.8c / 17.2c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
While this Battle Pack has many strengths, I am frustrated by its missed opportunities
- Excellent Mandalorian minifigures
- Nice speeder design
- Inaccurate visors
- Unnecessary 332nd Clone Troopers
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
The two Mandalorian Super Commandos are by far the most interesting minifigures included and I think they look excellent, if not entirely accurate. The details on both the male and female armour are impressive, although the battle wear could make it difficult to build an army of these commandos, especially on the male figure, where that damage is particularly prominent.
I like the use of black on the female warrior and the yellow triangles on her armour correspond with the source material. However, the silver visors have received criticism because they differ from the usual black. The visors are reflective in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, though not nearly as shiny as they appear on the minifigures.
I imagine silver was selected to contrast with the black handprint on the male helmet, although slivers of dark red worked on the minifigures available in 75022 Mandalorian Speeder, pictured below for comparison. Personally, I find the silver shade very striking, although it is not accurate to the animated series and I am not convinced the colour change was necessary.
Both minifigures are equipped with pearl dark grey jetpacks and blaster pistols, while one can carry a handheld energy shield, like those frequently fitted to Mandalorian wrist gauntlets. The generic heads are perfectly fine, but paler designs more specific to natives of Mandalore would have been ideal.
This set also includes a couple of 332nd Clone Troopers to rival Maul's Mandalorians. These minifigures are welcome for army building, but they earlier appeared in a dedicated set, 75359 332nd Ahsoka's Clone Trooper Battle Pack. Admittedly, the prior Battle Pack retired a year ago, but I think most people wanting to assemble an army will have done so already.
With that in mind, I would have preferred members of the Mandalorian Resistance. Minifigures from 75373 Ambush on Mandalore Battle Pack can potentially fill the role, although without the Clone Wars styling. Regardless, these Clone Troopers are nice minifigures and come equipped with blaster rifles, as well as standard Clone Trooper heads.
The Completed Model
The set is designed for a battle of attack versus defence, beginning with a simple barricade and stud-shooting turret. I like the use of a pearl dark grey lattice piece on the barricade and the 1x4 tile decorated with hazard stripes behind the fence looks good. Also, there is a slot for additional 1x1 round tiles ready to launch, plus a black crate for extra storage.
There is plenty of space for minifigures to stand behind the barricade, but the stud shooter is a bit too high for them to grip the handlebars comfortably. Even though you can pose a character holding the weapon, just about, it certainly could be easier.
Fine though the barricade looks, I wonder whether using those elements for the speeder would have been a better course of action. I think the speeder looks superb in its current form, thanks to the distinctive colours and clever use of curved wedge slopes on either side, which create an interesting shape. The vehicle is quite small though, resulting in some compromises.
For example, the speeder's stubby nose seems awkward to me. Using the underside of a 1x2 bracket element for texture is a nice idea, but it looks quite flat, particularly in contrast with the curved bodywork around the sides. On the other hand, I like the rounded windscreen and even though this speeder is not based on anything specific, its shape is visibly Mandalorian, akin to the Buirk'alor-class vehicles from The Clone Wars.
You can seat one minifigure behind the printed console in the cockpit and another can grip the stud shooter mounted on the back. There is not really anywhere for the gunner to stand, which could be improved, but you could imagine a Mandalorian using their jetpack when directing this weapon.
Furthermore, the turret is connected to a ball joint, which gives it a great range of motion and provides stability for dynamic poses. The trans-yellow engines look excellent as well, partially armoured with curved slopes, but I think only a few more pieces would be needed to raise this from a good speeder to a brilliant one, for a Battle Pack.
Overall
75449 Siege of Mandalore Battle Pack is undoubtedly a good set, but also a frustrating one, in my opinion. Despite their inaccuracy, I like the Mandalorians' reflective visors and those figures are great. However, the 332nd Clone Troopers feel superfluous to me, especially given the need for some of Bo-Katan's Mandalorian resistance to oppose the Super Commandos.
Similarly, while the speeder is well-designed for its size, I think focusing more attention on this vehicle rather than the barricade could have resulted in a truly excellent model. Unsurprisingly, the price of £17.99, $22.99 or €19.99 is an issue too, although I still consider this a Battle Pack worth owning, albeit one with unrealised potential.
92 likes
43 comments on this article
Need some rep from a different era or even a non clone faction in these cheaper packs. Sick of clones.
The Mandos are nice.
But dude, who’s calling the shots for SW at TLG?? pfff. Another double dipping for profits doing re-runs on these clones.
‘especially given the need for some of Bo-Katan's Mandalorian resistance to oppose the Super Commandos.’
The front of the Speeder boggles my mind. It's as if some piece fell off during the approval process and they just left it bare.
Couldn't they have at least added an inverted tile or slope?
I suspect Clones were chosen over more Mandalorians to make it clear there were two factions at play, something battle packs switched to after the first few were purely one sided. Kind of miss those, they were handy for army building
@VictorvanSchagen said:
"The front of the Speeder boggles my mind. It's as if some piece fell off during the approval process and they just left it bare.
Couldn't they have at least added an inverted tile or slope?"
You put the included grey crate there.
@Broken_Cheese_Slope said:
"Need some rep from a different era or even a non clone faction in these cheaper packs. Sick of clones."
The last traditional battle pack that included rebels (the good guys of the franchise) was released in 2017!! And sequel era fans have long starved to death.
I wish that they would at least include macrobinoculars and/or rangefinders as optional accessories for the figures in these sets. I know they wouldnt offset the cost but I think people would appreciate it, just as the first Clone Wars sets from 2008 included accessories for clone customization.
What’s the in-universe explanation for handprint decals when everyone has u-shaped claws at the ends of their arms?
@Brickalili said:
"I suspect Clones were chosen over more Mandalorians to make it clear there were two factions at play, something battle packs switched to after the first few were purely one sided. Kind of miss those, they were handy for army building"
Many recent battle packs have been just one faction. It feels random to me which ones get the 2-faction treatment and which ones don't.
@Broken_Cheese_Slope said:
"Need some rep from a different era or even a non clone faction in these cheaper packs. Sick of clones."
I’m the same way. The repetition is getting boring for me.
I know it’s an ancient complaint but I have to say it again:
Lego is *never* going to sell me on $20+ “army builder” battle packs.
At 116 pieces, the ABSOLUTE MAX this set should have been at would be $15. $22.99 is patently insane.
If I can get the China clone, with comparable quality of print and brick holds, in a couple months for $9 *with shipping and tariff fees*, Lego is in a dead end rut trying to get just shy of *triple* that. I don’t care if that’s not a “fair” comparison - that’s simple economic math.
@Brickalili said:
"I suspect Clones were chosen over more Mandalorians to make it clear there were two factions at play, something battle packs switched to after the first few were purely one sided. Kind of miss those, they were handy for army building"
Even so, we had the 332nd Batte Pack with these same minis very recently. If they wanted to include clones, they could have gone with a 501st regular trooper and a white one to change things up a bit.
Man I hate the inclusion of 332nd Clones.
A purely mando based battle pack would've been much better imho.
Even with the Minifig issues, still a day 1 pick up for me. Been wanting new maul mandalorians for a while.
@GirlWoman said:
" @VictorvanSchagen said:
"The front of the Speeder boggles my mind. It's as if some piece fell off during the approval process and they just left it bare.
Couldn't they have at least added an inverted tile or slope?"
You put the included grey crate there."
Yeah, the black one.
This set just disappoints me. I had high hopes for it when the rumors came out and this severely falls short. The visors are just so frustrating. They don’t look any cooler than the black ones, they got them correct for every single Mandalorian for well over 2 decades, and they got them correct with the same figure 13 years ago. It just simply makes no sense. And why are there 332nd? That totally wastes the spot we had in 2023. Regular 501st would have been just as accurate, which by the way, were also still in circulation. I’m still kinda torn on the builds, but I think the play value seems really great, which I definitely like. Overall, another lackluster set that I had high hopes for, only to be dashed by the design team. Sigh.
@Kalking said:
"I know it’s an ancient complaint but I have to say it again:
Lego is *never* going to sell me on $20+ “army builder” battle packs.
At 116 pieces, the ABSOLUTE MAX this set should have been at would be $15. $22.99 is patently insane.
If I can get the China clone, with comparable quality of print and brick holds, in a couple months for $9 *with shipping and tariff fees*, Lego is in a dead end rut trying to get just shy of *triple* that. I don’t care if that’s not a “fair” comparison - that’s simple economic math."
You can never win the argument that fake Lego minifigures are the same quality as real Lego
I like the spaceship, I just don't like it twenty-Euros-much.
@CommanderR3x said:
" @Kalking said:
"I know it’s an ancient complaint but I have to say it again:
Lego is *never* going to sell me on $20+ “army builder” battle packs.
At 116 pieces, the ABSOLUTE MAX this set should have been at would be $15. $22.99 is patently insane.
If I can get the China clone, with comparable quality of print and brick holds, in a couple months for $9 *with shipping and tariff fees*, Lego is in a dead end rut trying to get just shy of *triple* that. I don’t care if that’s not a “fair” comparison - that’s simple economic math."
You can never win the argument that fake Lego minifigures are the same quality as real Lego "
I wouldn't care if the quality were superior- I won't support IP theft.
@Mister_Jonny said:
"What’s the in-universe explanation for handprint decals when everyone has u-shaped claws at the ends of their arms?"
this guy is wondering the same thing:
https://brickset.com/minifigs/lor022/uruk-hai-handprint-helmet
Shouldn't the handprints on the helmet be Lego hands? :)
The gray helmet visor looks particularly bad on the female Mandon, but otherwise it's not a bad set, I'll definitely get one.
The speeder is based off of something specific. It’s the speeder that Bo Katan rescues Obiwan with, the same one that they made for the Mandalorian speeder that came with chicken legs Maul
@Mister_Jonny said:
"What’s the in-universe explanation for handprint decals when everyone has u-shaped claws at the ends of their arms?"
Same as it is for the White Hand of Saruman.
@Emmafofemma said:
"The speeder is based off of something specific. It’s the speeder that Bo Katan rescues Obiwan with, the same one that they made for the Mandalorian speeder that came with chicken legs Maul"
It is influenced by the Mandalorian speeders seen in Corruption and The Lawless, as well as the Buirk'alor-class speeder mentioned in the article, which all share the same bulbous armour towards the front and back, with a narrower body in the middle. It is not really intended to represent them though, otherwise the nose shape and various other things would be completely different.
@560heliport said:
[[ @CommanderR3x said:
[[ @Kalking l]
If I can get the China clone, with comparable quality of print and brick holds, in a couple months for $9 *with shipping and tariff fees*, Lego is in a dead end rut trying to get just shy of *triple* that. I don’t care if that’s not a “fair” comparison - that’s simple economic math.]]
You can never win the argument that fake Lego minifigures are the same quality as real Lego ]]
I wouldn't care if the quality were superior- I won't support IP theft.]]
Ip theft?... so what? Lego is nothing but theft at this point. They're like organized crime for toys. Holding almost every imaginable IP hostage at extortion rates for potential customers.
@ScholtzTKO said:
[[ @560heliport said:
[[ @CommanderR3x said:
[[ @Kalking l]
If I can get the China clone, with comparable quality of print and brick holds, in a couple months for $9 *with shipping and tariff fees*, Lego is in a dead end rut trying to get just shy of *triple* that. I don’t care if that’s not a “fair” comparison - that’s simple economic math.]]
You can never win the argument that fake Lego minifigures are the same quality as real Lego ]]
I wouldn't care if the quality were superior- I won't support IP theft.]]
Ip theft?... so what? Lego is nothing but theft at this point. They're like organized crime for toys. Holding almost every imaginable IP hostage at extortion rates for potential customers.]]
Friend, if you don't know what something means, it's okay to just ask.
@ScholtzTKO said:
"Ip theft?... so what? Lego is nothing but theft at this point. They're like organized crime for toys. Holding almost every imaginable IP hostage at extortion rates for potential customers."
Paying for something is frequently considered to be the opposite of theft.
@ScholtzTKO said:
[[ @560heliport said:
[[ @CommanderR3x said:
[[ @Kalking l]
If I can get the China clone, with comparable quality of print and brick holds, in a couple months for $9 *with shipping and tariff fees*, Lego is in a dead end rut trying to get just shy of *triple* that. I don’t care if that’s not a “fair” comparison - that’s simple economic math.]]
You can never win the argument that fake Lego minifigures are the same quality as real Lego ]]
I wouldn't care if the quality were superior- I won't support IP theft.]]
Ip theft?... so what? Lego is nothing but theft at this point. They're like organized crime for toys. Holding almost every imaginable IP hostage at extortion rates for potential customers.]]
You get a choice to buy or not. How is LEGO holding the IP to ransom? Disney sell the rights to LEGO, if Disney want to allow every toy company to make products based on their IP then they'd have non-exclusive contracts but presumably wouldn't make as much with their LEGO contract. And the Chinese fakes would stll be cheaper as they'd still not pay.
You can buy fakes of just about every LEGO set for under half the LEGO RRP. And if you do, maybe you should call yourself an AFOFL. Personally I think if buying non-LEGO brick sets your money is better spent on independent brands selling their own designs rather than outright fakes.
I’m sorry but I just don’t like the speeder. It appears to have more design details at the rear than the front. It looks like an attempt with half the number of bricks that the designer wanted.
The barricade looks pointless. It doesn’t provide any protection. It simply provides a place for the stud shooter to be.
I like all the figures. I don’t care if they are clones I’ve got before or not. They are well designed and plenty of printing.
The price is too high but only by a couple of bucks. So I’ll wait and buy it when the store has it reduced a little or shop around. But I won’t buy it from Lego. And there’s a point. Every set Lego overprices is a set I will buy somewhere else.
@560heliport said:
" @CommanderR3x said:
" @Kalking said:
"I know it’s an ancient complaint but I have to say it again:
Lego is *never* going to sell me on $20+ “army builder” battle packs.
At 116 pieces, the ABSOLUTE MAX this set should have been at would be $15. $22.99 is patently insane.
If I can get the China clone, with comparable quality of print and brick holds, in a couple months for $9 *with shipping and tariff fees*, Lego is in a dead end rut trying to get just shy of *triple* that. I don’t care if that’s not a “fair” comparison - that’s simple economic math."
You can never win the argument that fake Lego minifigures are the same quality as real Lego "
I wouldn't care if the quality were superior- I won't support IP theft."
Just to be clear, by "IP theft," you mean what companies like Lepin are doing (i. e. making Star Wars sets without actually paying for the license), right?
@TheOtherMike said:
" @560heliport said:
" @CommanderR3x said:
" @Kalking said:
"I know it’s an ancient complaint but I have to say it again:
Lego is *never* going to sell me on $20+ “army builder” battle packs.
At 116 pieces, the ABSOLUTE MAX this set should have been at would be $15. $22.99 is patently insane.
If I can get the China clone, with comparable quality of print and brick holds, in a couple months for $9 *with shipping and tariff fees*, Lego is in a dead end rut trying to get just shy of *triple* that. I don’t care if that’s not a “fair” comparison - that’s simple economic math."
You can never win the argument that fake Lego minifigures are the same quality as real Lego "
I wouldn't care if the quality were superior- I won't support IP theft."
Just to be clear, by "IP theft," you mean what companies like Lepin are doing (i. e. making Star Wars sets without actually paying for the license), right?"
Yes.
I would love a couple more Mauldalorians since I only have two, but it doesn't seem worth it. Outside of me refusing to pay the new price, I really don't need more 332nd which constitutes half of the figures. The builds are fine, dare I say, even good, but I have limited money and space, so I'll pass. It's a shame they didn't just do this battlepack originally. They could have easily used the swamp speeder for another legion later on.
Completely arbitrary, but I really wish they'd use black hips for the Clone troopers again. I figure it's not like, accurate per se, but it gave a better contrast for the amount of visible black on troopers. They're just like blindingly white here - which again I get is a very picky critique - but it looks odd.
Definitely a mixed bag. Too soon reuse of common clones to fill out a pack that absolutely should be more slated towards the Mandalorian faction. I really do miss older battle packs that were more of a singular side - but I admit this is primarily my army building memories of the 2007-2009 battle packs. The speeder looks pretty nice for what it is. $23 is astounding, but I think just about everyone's thinking that.
Thank you for the review! On one hand, I'm happy for all the CW fans out there, that Lego focuses so much on this era currently. I wonder if in my life time there will be ever an OT battle pack ever again? I still think, that a mixed Imperial (Stormtrooper, Scout Trooper, Sandtrooper, Officer) and Rebel (trooper, pilot, ground crew, R5) battle pack would sell well.
But back to this set, and even if it is accurate to the CW lore, I wonder what the decision at Lego HQ was to release a battle pack with the exact same Clones we had in several sets, including a battle pack, some years ago. The only logical thing for me would be, that they had some stock left and needed to get rid of that. Nothing else makes sense to me.
@TBOC said:
"$23 is astounding, but I think just about everyone's thinking that."
What about $30 in Canada? No way that I would ever buy this at full price. Maybe 1/2 price if that ever happened.
@yamaki said:
"The only logical thing for me would be, that they had some stock left and needed to get rid of that. Nothing else makes sense to me. "
People keep saying variations on this like it is even remotely logical. No. It’s not. If the set retires, and the minifig parts are IP-locked so they can’t sell them on OPAB, it’s cheaper to just destroy them than hoard them in inventory for years before building a completely new set (with a production run that’s likely in the millions) around the leftovers. They sell leftover sets, like they did with the ones intended for 2020 SDCC. They don’t design retail sets around leftover parts, with the handful of exceptions including the big Bionicle jugs and the Creator bonus boxes (all of which had semi-random contents, _no_ instructions, and limited availability).
@LoobsterB said:
" @TBOC said:
"$23 is astounding, but I think just about everyone's thinking that."
What about $30 in Canada? No way that I would ever buy this at full price. Maybe 1/2 price if that ever happened."
23 USD = 31.51 CAD today, so you're getting a slightly better deal.
@PurpleDave said:
" @yamaki said:
"The only logical thing for me would be, that they had some stock left and needed to get rid of that. Nothing else makes sense to me. "
People keep saying variations on this like it is even remotely logical. No. It’s not. If the set retires, and the minifig parts are IP-locked so they can’t sell them on OPAB, it’s cheaper to just destroy them than hoard them in inventory for years before building a completely new set (with a production run that’s likely in the millions) around the leftovers. They sell leftover sets, like they did with the ones intended for 2020 SDCC. They don’t design retail sets around leftover parts, with the handful of exceptions including the big Bionicle jugs and the Creator bonus boxes (all of which had semi-random contents, _no_ instructions, and limited availability)."
I'm reminded of the people thinking that Day Seven of this year's Star Wars AC (https://brickset.com/article/126331/star-wars-advent-calendar-day-7) must have been chosen because Lego had a bunch of unsold stock of 75401. Not only is that not the way Lego does things, but the AC would have been designed, at the latest, just as Ahsoka's fighter was coming out.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @yamaki said:
"The only logical thing for me would be, that they had some stock left and needed to get rid of that. Nothing else makes sense to me. "
People keep saying variations on this like it is even remotely logical. No. It’s not. If the set retires, and the minifig parts are IP-locked so they can’t sell them on OPAB, it’s cheaper to just destroy them than hoard them in inventory for years before building a completely new set (with a production run that’s likely in the millions) around the leftovers. They sell leftover sets, like they did with the ones intended for 2020 SDCC. They don’t design retail sets around leftover parts, with the handful of exceptions including the big Bionicle jugs and the Creator bonus boxes (all of which had semi-random contents, _no_ instructions, and limited availability)."
I'm reminded of the people thinking that Day Seven of this year's Star Wars AC (https://brickset.com/article/126331/star-wars-advent-calendar-day-7) must have been chosen because Lego had a bunch of unsold stock of 75401. Not only is that not the way Lego does things, but the AC would have been designed, at the latest, just as Ahsoka's fighter was coming out."
Hence my comment. This is at least the third person in a span of one month who thinks they just make new sets to unload overstock minifigs. What makes it worse in this case is the 2025 SWAC is already retired, while 75401 doesn't even have an announced retirement date. They could keep producing it for another year or longer. This year's NYTF was pushed back to the beginning of March, which is when this year's SWAC would have been publicly unveiled for the first time. Prior to that, it was likely shown to corporate buyers in late January at both the UK and Nuremberg Toy Fairs, but historically the media isn't allowed to photograph a lot of LEGO products at those events.
@GirlWoman said:
" @Broken_Cheese_Slope said:
"Need some rep from a different era or even a non clone faction in these cheaper packs. Sick of clones."
The last traditional battle pack that included rebels (the good guys of the franchise) was released in 2017!! And sequel era fans have long starved to death."
As someone who loves Lego and Star Wars, but not the prequel era or Mando, the last few years have been rough, especially for small and mid size sets. There's UCS or 4+ sets, but the reasonably priced minifig scale sets seem to have vanished for the OT and post-Mando sequel eras.
@PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @yamaki said:
"The only logical thing for me would be, that they had some stock left and needed to get rid of that. Nothing else makes sense to me. "
People keep saying variations on this like it is even remotely logical. No. It’s not. If the set retires, and the minifig parts are IP-locked so they can’t sell them on OPAB, it’s cheaper to just destroy them than hoard them in inventory for years before building a completely new set (with a production run that’s likely in the millions) around the leftovers. They sell leftover sets, like they did with the ones intended for 2020 SDCC. They don’t design retail sets around leftover parts, with the handful of exceptions including the big Bionicle jugs and the Creator bonus boxes (all of which had semi-random contents, _no_ instructions, and limited availability)."
I'm reminded of the people thinking that Day Seven of this year's Star Wars AC (https://brickset.com/article/126331/star-wars-advent-calendar-day-7) must have been chosen because Lego had a bunch of unsold stock of 75401. Not only is that not the way Lego does things, but the AC would have been designed, at the latest, just as Ahsoka's fighter was coming out."
Hence my comment. This is at least the third person in a span of one month who thinks they just make new sets to unload overstock minifigs. What makes it worse in this case is the 2025 SWAC is already retired, while 75401 doesn't even have an announced retirement date. They could keep producing it for another year or longer. This year's NYTF was pushed back to the beginning of March, which is when this year's SWAC would have been publicly unveiled for the first time. Prior to that, it was likely shown to corporate buyers in late January at both the UK and Nuremberg Toy Fairs, but historically the media isn't allowed to photograph a lot of LEGO products at those events."
I think what most people are intuitively thinking is that reuse is a cheap, lazy addition- which is definitely true.
Of course, the idea that reused part designs stem from unsold parts sitting around is ludicrous. The overhead on unused inventory would be economic insanity.
This set is ok. The price stinks, but will be remedied with time. The clones are a cheap, lazy addition. The visors look cool even if they are arguably inaccurate- reflective black, metal, grey, silver- it's all fairly the same. The ship and barricade are usable.
@StyleCounselor said:
"I think what most people are intuitively thinking is that reuse is a cheap, lazy addition- which is definitely true.
Of course, the idea that reused part designs stem from unsold parts sitting around is ludicrous. The overhead on unused inventory would be economic insanity."
Set designers have to work within the constraints that are imposed on them, which includes the number of new frames they get to designate. Buyers expect at least a few standard characters, vs entirely brick-built ones, and using ones that are already in current production allows you to spend your frames on other things. So it may be cheap in an economic sense, but it's more calculated than lazy.