Review: Unkar's Brute
Posted by CapnRex101,
The May the Fourth weekend is always busy with promotions and new releases, one of which is a book. LEGO Star Wars Chronicles of the Force, the latest addition to the range of DK publications, is released today in the UK and will be available elsewhere next month. As is often the case, an exclusive minifigure is packaged with the book and on this occasion that figure is Unkar's Brute.
I think this minifigure received undue criticism when it was first revealed. There are certainly other characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens which I would have preferred but this is a decent figure and one which will fit nicely into the upcoming 75148 Encounter on Jakku.
Minifigure
This minifigure is a good likeness for the character in the film and I love the printing on his head which shows just one exposed eye surrounded by filthy wrappings and bandages. The design continues onto the back and the torso is equally impressive, with plenty of detail on the front and back. I like the olive green colour scheme very much and it contrasts nicely with the dark tan of his head while also looking drab as his attire does in the movie.
The legs are dark brown and do not feature any printing, although that is not necessary in my opinion as his clothing is very simple. Dual moulding would have been ideal to represent his boots but plain dark brown looks perfectly fine. Unfortunately the minifigure is unarmed but we do not see him carrying any weapons in the film so this can be forgiven.
Unkar's Brute looks splendid beside his fellow thug, included in 75099 Rey's Speeder, so you could create a nice display based on Niima Outpost and Rey's encounters with these hired guns. The impending release of 75148 Encounter on Jakku has been timed perfectly to almost complete such a scene as only the Happabore, Sarco Plank and Constable Zuvio are still missing.
Overall
This is an excellent minifigure and it certainly incentivised me to purchase the LEGO Star Wars Chronicles of the Force book. There are undoubtedly other characters which would be more exciting but this is a perfect representation of Unkar's Brute and I am pleased to add it to my Star Wars: The Force Awakens minifigure collection.
LEGO Star Wars Chronicles of the Force is available now in the UK and will be released in the rest of the world on the 7th of June. Order now from Amazon: UK (£9) | USA ($12.74) | Canada ($18.31)
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16 comments on this article
Great review! I think this minifig is pretty nice, but perhaps not enticing enough for me to get the book.
Will you be reviewing Escape the Space Slug?
It's bizarre that Lego didn't use this minifigure for May 4th. Irrelevant as I'll be picking this up as well as the heavy artillery trooper but might of kept some other fans happier
The two 'brutes' look good together. I've just realised what I dislike about the first brute that came with Rey's speeder - the gold crowbar tool.
People criticized this figure?! This guy is better than the May the Fourth promo AND the First Order General I'd say.
I criticized him to the extent that Old Luke would have been the obvious choice for an exclusive figure. That said, he's still extremely generic looking and not as exciting as, say, the Palpatine figure who came with the Dark Side book (a relief to those of us who didn't want to spend $75 on the Final Duel set).
Isn't it bad that that DK book figure promos are starting to be better than the promos that LEGO hands out for their SW events?
I also presume Old Luke will be in a future set
This is tempting me to get the book.
Thanks for the great review! The minifigure looks quite good in terms of parts.
thanks for the review. I like it and have bought the book.
@brickset, if we mark the book as owned, the minifigure is not added to minifigs owned list.
With this figure lego once again points the problem with no standarized design.
Why this guy head is just printed while the Rey has new piece that do the same thing?
It just looks wrong.
@madforLEGO
> I also presume Old Luke will be in a future set
That's what I was thinking. We have another movie in the making where Old Luke will feature more prominently.
They should've done ghost Obi Wan. sigh.
um, am I the only one that thought "forget the star wars collection, that's going right into the mummy and zombie collection"?
do we really need a constable zuvio given his scene got cut from the film?
@Brickalili - I would like one. He appeared in one of the first official images from the set and there have been Constable Zuvio action figures at a variety of scales. He has therefore acquired something of a cult following and he does appear in the background of one shot so has not been completely cut from the film.
His head could be good for a custom Clayface minifig (Batman).
Love the fig