Review: 75524 Chirrut Îmwe
Posted by CapnRex101,
The fourth wave of Buildable Figures is based entirely on characters from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and I expect 75524 Chirrut Îmwe to be the best selling of the three new sets. They are each priced at £19.99 in the UK or $24.99 in the US and Chirrut contains fewer pieces than the other two figures but his character seems to be among the most popular with many fans. He is by far my favourite character from the extensive cast of the film so this set is of particular interest to me.
Figures based on human characters without helmets have often been the weakest sets in previous waves but I was pleasantly surprised when images of this one were revealed as the stylised design closely resembles Chirrut Îmwe as he appears in the film and the rest of the figure looks tremendous.
The Completed Model
Chirrut Îmwe stands over 23cm in height and is highly articulated, with ball joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles which allow you to stand the figure in a variety of dynamic poses. His martial arts ability necessitates such articulation and I find this is one of the easiest figures to display as a result, particularly when placed beside 75523 Scarif Stormtrooper or 75525 Baze Malbus.
The large weapon requires two hands and this restricts the poseability of the figure to some degree as its length is not adjustable, although it looks fantastic when positioned correctly. The torso printing is relatively plain, with some simple white straps crossing the chest and a belt around the front of his waist, but it looks perfect and the lack of colour here is offset by the bright robe.
Buildable Figures with human heads have received a great deal of criticism over the last couple of years. I quite like most of them but think this figure offers perhaps the best head piece yet. The lines and haircut are simple but it resembles Donnie Yen quite closely and I like the light blue eye colour as that certainly conveys the concept of Chirrut's blindness. I still wonder whether LEGO could sculpt a truly realistic head for human figures but the stylised designs are usually effective and this one looks excellent in my opinion.
I find the hands to be the most restrictive aspect of the entire figure as they are clenched in a rather unnatural way and are therefore not very versatile. Perhaps future waves will include a new hand element with articulated fingers or at least an alternate component with the palm open. The left arm is more heavily armoured than the right and incorporates a new element which is attached to the existing CCBS panels using two small pins. This is printed to replicate the design of Chirrut's impeller gauntlet which increases the accuracy of the lightbow and there is also a white strap across his shoulder, matching those found on the torso.
Chirrut's robe is represented by a fabric component which wraps around the waist of the figure and is fixed in place using a pair of black 1x1 round tiles with pins. This piece has not appeared in black before and has the potential to prove very useful for your own creations so it is pleasing to see a spare included too. I like the dark red and black colour scheme very much and the layered fabric looks splendid, although it is folded in the packaging so leaves an unsightly crease. Hopefully that will fade with time or by placing the robe between a couple of heavy books to flatten it out.
It is worth noting that the robe is a little longer on the figure than it is in the movie, thereby ensuring that the legs cannot be seen underneath. This has allowed the designer to leave them relatively exposed, using merely a pair of small panels to partially cover the skeletal joints. They would look terrible but are concealed when the robe is being worn so the lack of finishing does not bother me at all.
Chirrut is armed with a lightbow, a handcrafted weapon of exceptional power. This occupies almost a third of the 87 pieces included and therefore looks as detailed as one might hope, even including a new pearl gold element for the polarising limbs on either side of the barrel. I like the combination of black, brown and gold colours and the shaping of the lightbow is reasonably accurate, with the only compromises being made as a result of the missile firing mechanism which is hidden inside the barrel. The launcher is activated by pressing the golden T-bar on top and it works very well, with a range of several metres so you can stage battles against the Empire.
The polarising limbs can also be folded by pulling back on a section of the lightbow and you can even stow the weapon on Chirrut's back, just as in the movie. A pair of clips on the back of the figure can be used to store a spare blaster bolt but they also attach to the golden activator for the launcher. It hangs down somewhat loosely but can be angled as you wish and therefore looks great, particularly when viewed from the front where the blue Technic pins are not visible.
Excellent though the lightbow is, Chirrut should also be equipped with a staff for close quarters combat. This can be easily assembled using your own parts and is ideally suited to the weapon handle element which was introduced with the first wave of Buildable Figures as the staff is made from two wooden shafts connected by metal grips in the film. It seems a shame to have left out such an important weapon and I cannot help but think that the parts budget could have stretched to include another four or five pieces.
Overall
75111 Darth Vader and 75112 General Grievous remain my favourite Buildable Figures as they are larger and more detailed than any of the others but 75524 Chirrut Îmwe is perhaps the best of the rest in my opinion. The figure itself looks tremendous and has great articulation while the lightbow is equally impressive, with a brilliant folding design and a lovely colour scheme. Together the accessory and the figure offer excellent play value and are perfect for display as well, particularly when placed beside Chirrut's more aggressive companion, 75525 Baze Malbus.
I definitely recommend this set over the other two new Buildable Figures and it also surpasses those in the last wave based on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in my opinion. The level of detail is much greater and I think the size of the figure represents good value for money, especially given the inclusion of so many new pieces and printed designs.
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
I am one with the force.
The force is with me.
One of the coolest characters in the movie and one of the coolest Buildable Figures.
My favourite character in the movie, but this set is missing his staff!!
I would not buy this figure because I'm not a fan of the buildable figures in general.
Really needs the staff, but an awesome figure regardless...
Baze looks impressively more detailed, but WHAT is going on with his head?!
Galidor is back?
I disagree about figures without helmets often being the weakest. To be honest, I'm often much more attracted to those sets than the ones with helmets, both because the heads are more useful for non-Star Wars creations and because the non-helmeted hero characters often have more dynamic color schemes than the helmeted villain characters.
Also, many of the head sculpts have been quite good, IMO — the only one that feels especially ugly and off-model is Luke's, which was one of the first designed. Obi-Wan, Finn, Chirrut, and Baze all feel very authentic, and my main issue with Rey, Poe, and Jyn is that they have headgear which is very scene-specific and limits their potential for reuse. I think the stylized look works well for them, since it fits the general mix of curves and angles that characterize other parts of the sets.
Chirrut is definitely a pretty creative build, in terms of both his weapon and his outfit. I love how he uses a System wheel arch to create the collar of his outfit. It's interesting that he gives us both the first beam and the first armor shell in Light Nougat. A new beam with a more streamlined shape might have been preferable to a standard beam and shell in terms of creating the appearance of an exposed arm, but it's not terribly distracting.
The new lightbow piece seems reasonably versatile for MOCs, although I'm not sure how many future sets it might be able to be used in. That may depend on whether it's IP-locked and whether future Star Wars movies feature weapons with similar shaping. The folding function of the bow is quite good, giving it considerably more play value than a typical blaster. It has nice colors, as well!
I was not very excited for any of the Rogue One figures prior to seeing the movie (perhaps the most exciting was K-2SO due to his creative build, but my enthusiasm for him was dulled by his somewhat boring color scheme). After seeing Rogue One, I am VERY excited for the Chirrut and Baze figures, since they were some of the characters who resonated the most with me. Although, it also made me realize how much cooler K-2 might've been if the designers had been able to create those gold accents around his shoulders that he has in the movie. Perhaps a technique similar to Chirrut's collar might have been effective there.
Thanks so much for this review!
@parsom: I'm always confused by comments like this. The problem with Galidor was never that its characters had human faces. In fact, only two of them did! Rather, it was that it was based on a new IP with limited appeal, and that the sets were made up of a small number of extremely specialized parts, rather than a larger number of more versatile parts. Neither of those things is a problem with this set, which has 87 pieces, only a handful of which are specific to this character.
^Galidor never looked that good.
Yay! Another color for that pneumatic T-bar!
Does look like the best buildable figure of this wave. My only nitpick is that it would have been nice if his pupils weren't present, more accurately representing his blindness. I might grab this at discount, seeing as Wal-Mart seems to mark all the SW figures down to 50%-80% off eventually.
am one with the force.
The force is with me.
This and K-2SO stole the movie while Lord Darth Vader ended up owning everyone in the character badass meter, even surpassing those two.
Where is his staff? Guess I'll just have to make a custom one.
Can we assume you will be doing a review of Baze Malbus soon based on that last picture?
When are these being released?
@coenstegeman: It looks pretty accurate to me, just with slightly sharper contours.
I also like the new pneumatic T-piece. :D
The head is much of an improvement over Force Awakens' characters, but none of the Rogue One characters were interesting so I only want the troopers.
Can someone let me know which pieces are 1x1 tiles with pins?
I think the correct 'mantra' is this:
"I am one with the Force AND the Force is with me."
@Parsom, this can't be compared with Galidor. I own a Nick Deluxe and I can already tell this is much better. That head looks more stylized. Waaaay less uncanny.
Besides, the technic parts and system parts are proof enough. Galidor doesn't connect with either (sans the joints, which are like the modern click ball joints).
I have an absolute mighty need for that Robe element. I'll definitely be picking up one copy of Chirrut, and maybe Bricklinking extra copies of his robe. I love how Lego has been including more cloth elements in these sets. As a tried and true Bionicle MOCer the've proven immensely useful in my builds. The heads are kind of hit and miss. I was able to repurpose one head in this build , but I find the rest of the heads either too specific for MOC repurposing, or just weird looking when tied in with other elements. I agree that Chirrut's head seems to be one of the most generic looking and would be useful for repurposing in MOCs. There's still the fact that those heads just look weird, I don't really think there's anything lego can do to fix that, its just the nature of the building system and how they look in contrast with the parts.
The heads aren't making big appearances in the Bionicle/HF MOCing community. I can't recall an instance where a notable MOCer has used a Star Wars head as a head for their figure. I think like myself the rest of us bin the head and buy these sets for the great recolors and new elements that help further our own builds with new textures, shapes and colors that previously didn't exist, and I think that's the biggest reason why Star Wars Buildable figures have been a success in the eyes of Constraction builders. Its certainly not for the character representations though, that's wholly secondary, and by most people's admissions, they don't always hit the mark(looking at you Luke and Jen Erso).