Review: 75422 Yoda's Hut and Jedi Training

They are pushing the SMart bricks so much. In my main SHopping galerie there was THREE spots that shill them.

The Dagobah sequence is such a snore and these Smart Bricks are quite terrible and offer nothing.

Easy hard pass.

Well. Let’s see what the new One Piece sets look like, in a few months.

I'd Build this without the Smart brick elements and use parts I already have to make it bigger and more detailed!
Nice Hut but smart brick has Ruined Dagoba and the New cantina set too

I do like the Trans Green curved Tiles I'm thinking Green Lantern creations incoming!

I *think* the music is trying to imitate Luke’s theme from the original trilogy, which eventually turned into the Force Stuff Is Happening theme. But it’s a bit of a guess because the brick is not amazing at reproducing sounds we already know.

yeah, the first sets aren't the best but it's kind of silly to have expected them to be

LEGO will learn from them and they'll get better over time

The idea behind the SMART brick is great and will only improve

At least the Smart Brick's Yoda sounds actually sort of sound like (an admittedly robotic-sounding) Yoda , unlike its Luke sounds.

@legoavenger14 said:
"I do like the Trans Green curved Tiles I'm thinking Green Lantern creations incoming! "

I like the way you think.

I built all 8 Smart Star Wars sets. This is probably one of the weakest ones. It’s the only one with a “smart’ Yoda— it can be found in Bricklink if you really want one

Regarding the other sets, the Millenium Falcon, TIE fighter, and X-wing make neat whooshing sounds with the smart bricks, which IMHO improve the playability. These are relatively inexpensive, although not as “authentic” as previous sets.

" Yoda also suffers because of the dual-moulded legs, which seem ill-suited to this character, but short legs seemingly cannot be used on SMART Minifigures."
I don't understand this bit of the review. He doesn't appear to have dual-moulded legs in the photo, and short legs have the same connecting pins as the other leg pieces, so perhaps they gave him medium ones to enhance playability?

Wait, the idea of those big clunky scales -isn’t- to balance them? I thought from pictures that was the whole point; put Luke on that bottom platform so that if the items aren’t balanced he gets tipped off, be somewhat representative of his struggles to learn (and, as the article says, -balance-) the Force

@Loerwyn said:
"" Yoda also suffers because of the dual-moulded legs, which seem ill-suited to this character, but short legs seemingly cannot be used on SMART Minifigures."
I don't understand this bit of the review. He doesn't appear to have dual-moulded legs in the photo, and short legs have the same connecting pins as the other leg pieces, so perhaps they gave him medium ones to enhance playability?"

Its a mistake by the author they wanted to call out the mid legs notr fitting Yoda but typed dual-moulded legs.

I’d buy this but not bother building the scales and use the parts from the base of the scales to add detail to the hut.

@ToysFromTheAttic I just have to put LEGO in terms of people, and imagine similar moments in my own career where it felt management was asking the impossible; and the narrative kind of just falls into place on its own like that. At the end of the day, LEGO is a buisness and has all the same faults as anywhere you or I have ever worked. That suggests a path for the SmartBrick hitting shelves in this state as I already outlined.

@Rimefang said:
"Five sets that depict Yoda's hut on Dagobah in 22 years is still better representation than Jabba's Palace. "

Great point. Still waiting for a MBS Jabbas Palace set.

@Loerwyn said:
"" Yoda also suffers because of the dual-moulded legs, which seem ill-suited to this character, but short legs seemingly cannot be used on SMART Minifigures."
I don't understand this bit of the review. He doesn't appear to have dual-moulded legs in the photo, and short legs have the same connecting pins as the other leg pieces, so perhaps they gave him medium ones to enhance playability?"

They're nearly identical (there's one slight difference), but that may be the problem. The Smart torso requires considerable space inside to fit the electronics, and the leg pegs take up a pretty significant amount of that space. We've only seen 2x2 tiles and torsos that incorporate the chip. Most likely they had to design both a new torso and new hips to leave enough space for the electronics, and that means they're restricted to mid, regular, and long legs. Skirts, short legs, 2-band, and 3-band dual-molded short legs would all require designing new molds for those elements that incorporate the same method of connecting to the Smart torso that the new hips use.

@CapnRex101 said:
"That could be the intent, but there is no kind of 'reward' for balancing the scales. I assumed the brick would make a different sound when balanced, but from my testing, that is not the case. With regard to the minifigure being tipped off the platform, that cannot really happen because the whole platform is covered with studs."

I was kinda wondering about this, and feel you might have missed something. You mention notes being played as you add and remove items from the scales, and a more involved bit of music playing at some point. I think the longer music _is_ the reward, but the question remains what exactly you did that triggered it. Maybe it doesn't require balancing the scales, but simply causing them to swing side-to-side enough times.

@CapnRex101 said:
" @Loerwyn said:
"" Yoda also suffers because of the dual-moulded legs, which seem ill-suited to this character, but short legs seemingly cannot be used on SMART Minifigures."
I don't understand this bit of the review. He doesn't appear to have dual-moulded legs in the photo, and short legs have the same connecting pins as the other leg pieces, so perhaps they gave him medium ones to enhance playability?"

Sorry, I meant to write medium legs, as @vistuk has said. Indeed they could be using them for better playability and particularly ease of integration with vehicles, but I wonder whether it was deemed simpler for manufacturing to use the standard hips on all SMART Minifigures."

Thanks Rex :)

@CapnRex101 said:
"The music is indeed a result of moving the scales multiple times, as mentioned in the article. You do not have to swing it from side to side to activate each sound though, any movement will do.

However, the question remains: why? I believe the music plays after eight movements every time and I are not sure what significance that has, if any."

It's not a game. It's an interaction. If you make it a game, you have to explain the rules (and you have to make it possible to win, which it doesn't seem they did). If you just make it an interaction, the reward is simply for participation, and the change in playback informs them that they've "won". It's the minifig that's learning to use the Force, not the kid.

@CapnRex101 said:
"I never suggested there was a game, but there is a story, or at least there is supposed to be. The scales are intended to communicate Luke training with the Force and an easy way to accomplish that would have been by balancing the scales, reflecting balance in the Force."

Would it be that easy? From what I see, the scales are equally balanced with nothing on them, meaning any added weights would have to be precisely equal in weight to stay balanced. The only easy way to accomplish that is to have you build two identical objects, down to the colors, and even that could fall apart once you mix those parts into your collection and try to rebuild it at a later date.

You'd also still need to communicate to the builder that this is the goal, which wouldn't be easy to do without using written language (which we know they prefer to avoid so instructions will be universally accessible). And in doing so, it would allow kids to rush right to the achievement. The goal may be the journey more than the destination.

"Instead, it plays music when you move the scales eight times, for some reason. There are so many features in these sets that happen 'for some reason', unfortunately."

Yeah, well, I'm not here to defend the reasoning that went into this system. I'm just trying to see if I can understand it.

This is gonna go the way of Hidden Side, but Hidden Side was actually fun...

@Murdoch17 said:
" @GirlWoman said:
"What were they thinking"

They were thinking about getting the owner of Lego his fourth Ferrari...

something is rotten in the state of Denmark, specifically Billund."

I suspect it is going to fail in that ambition.

To be or not to be, that is the question.

@thor96 said: "They could try to get people going in their innovations by taking the cost of the new smart brick and reducing their margin, just to see what would happen if that smart brick is a fun surprise, not the center of attention which it cannot satisfy in its current state"

I was thinking something of the same, like asking "what would people be willing to actually *pay* for this?", believing the answer would be "very little". I compare it to the often rather half-arsed* "play features" you see in sets, like a minecart set where you could make the train derail by pressing a lever next to the track. Usually pretty meh, but normally it only involves a handfull of parts, could easily be ignored/omitted and doesn't add noticeably to the price of the set. If OTOH it appeared to add like $20+ to the price and led to unsightly compromises of the model's appearance, it would most likely lead to negative reviews and poor sales.

It's the same with this "smartbrick", it cost too much, it makes too much of itself (is that constant, annoying flashing really nescesary? If so, can't it be replaced by invisible IR?) and compromises model design. It also (totally needlessly) leads to uglified minifigs, like the "Circle of Trash" on the back (it really resembles looking down a wastebasket and seeing random cliche rubbish like fishbones, a tin can and an apple core), the serial number and the "do not recycle"** icon.

Like you, I too think this could have a chance to work much better with a more "low key" approach, like if they'd cut the cost (why does the Lego version of a technology always cost so much compared to the generic equivalent?), not allowed it to compromise models, and not associated it with an iconic license while failing to include its iconic sounds. It's a bit like with the Mario theme, how they've switched from "Starter course required" to "Add more fun with interactive figures" (and finally stopped being so bloody stubborn and admitted people wants minifigs), and how Hidden Side probably would've been far more successful if they'd left the app as purely a "bonus feature" rather than the centerpiece of the show (ditching the confusing box art certainly would've helped too).

*IMO these play features suffers from having too simplistic mechanisms and not very interesting effects. If the derailing mechanism was a little more elaborate (more like something you'd expect in a Technic set) it would look and feel more interesting to operate, if the falling train did more than just clatter to the floor (like setting off a chain of other effects), or if it had some element of game/interactivity (like timing the operation of another lever to save the train from plummeting down a deep chasm), it might suddenly feel worth a few bucks extra.

**I keep reading it as such as I've always associated such wheelie bins with recycling, from when we first got them at paper pickup points 30 years ago and up to today, when every household here is required to have four or five of them (with garishly colored lids) for different types of waste.

I see the point for the smart brick, I understand what they try to achieve but... I think that even as a kid it wo not have brought a real play value or any great interest to my set and play as it is. Hopefully they will find and nail a real good way to make it work. I mean but for the colors, the sounds are all awful to my ears.

I'm actually interested in these sets, and this one will go on my wish list. Whether it ever comes off that is a different question. At the moment I don't see much point in the "smart figures" but some of the other uses of the tags and smart bricks are mildly amusing to me, and it sounds like the brick doesn't have to be limited to Star Wars-style effects. It also might be amusing to try and work this tech into the old Hidden Side sets, given the shared use of color readers to generate reactions.

I won't give up on this technology yet. (But yes, it may well be that I'm far too easily amused!)

@sklamb said:
"I'm actually interested in these sets, and this one will go on my wish list. Whether it ever comes off that is a different question. At the moment I don't see much point in the "smart figures" but some of the other uses of the tags and smart bricks are mildly amusing to me, and it sounds like the brick doesn't have to be limited to Star Wars-style effects. It also might be amusing to try and work this tech into the old Hidden Side sets, given the shared use of color readers to generate reactions.

I won't give up on this technology yet. (But yes, it may well be that I'm far too easily amused!)"

Life's a lot easier when you're easy to entertain. This isn't a dig at you; I'm easily amused, too, so I know from personal experience. I have no real interest in the Smart Brick sets (Although if 75426 came with a Smart Brick, I'd be tempted), but if I found myself in possession of one, I'd probably have fun with it.

I thought the mumble sound for Yoda was quite good, and Chewbacca too in other sets. Luke always sounds to me more like Obi-Wan though!

Yeesh :S

It might be great for the target audience though, who knows.

I'm a bit iffy on $70 and still have to get a smart brick somewhere.

@josekalel said:
"This is gonna go the way of Hidden Side, but Hidden Side was actually fun..."

Hidden Side was great, LEGO's original take on Ghostbusters? Heck yeah! And the app's two modes were admittedly quite fun, though playing a ghost in multiplayer was much more fun than either playing as a hunter in multiplayer or hunting in single-player, and the app had its fair share of issues.

SMART Play, however? SMART Play is trash. SMART Play is going to, mark my words, go the way of LIFE OF GEORGE or LEGO Fusion. No, that's disrespecting those brief, cool-ish experiments. Actually, may, and this is a curse, may the curse of LEGO VIDYO fall upon SMART PLAY and these sets get pulled from shelves within less than a year and a half, the concept never to return. As we all said at the time, LEGO Vidyo was bad and LEGO needed to feel bad, and I'll say it here:

LEGO Smart Play is bad, and LEGO should FEEL bad. ENOUGH with the lame attempts at combining LEGO and technology, if LEGO wants to do that, they should make their own lighting kits, ALA Lumibricks, and leave it at that. No one is buying this whole LEGO + Technology Hybrid Play that they've been trying to push, and repeatedly failing, for over a decade, it's time LEGO admitted to themselves that this is all a waste of money and not what their customers want, KFOL or AFOL.

@ecleme11 said:
"Welp my wallet will be happy at least"

Until they raise prices on normal sets to recoup their losses on this R&D miss.

Funny thing is, I just encountered a POP display that lets you slide a Smart Brick between different stations that feature a range of chip tiles so you can see how it interacts with each of them…except it appeared to be out of power so nothing worked. Brand new display, and I don’t know how it’s supposed to actually charge up the brick.

LEGO was so preocupied if they could, they forgot to think if they should....