Review: 75167 Bounty Hunter Speeder Bike Battle Pack
Posted by CapnRex101,
75167 Bounty Hunter Speeder Bike Battle Pack has drawn a great deal of attention during the last few months as it offers an extraordinarily impressive minifigure selection at an affordable price of £11.99 or $14.99. In addition, the set includes a brand new 4-LOM minifigure, one of the most frequently requested characters from the Original Trilogy.
This alone would probably justify the purchase for many Star Wars collectors but significant improvements have also been applied to Bossk and IG-88, furthering its appeal to an even greater extent. I hope this small set will prove worthy of such high expectations.
Minifigures
Bossk has appeared in two previous sets but the minifigure has been considerably updated on this occasion. The Trandoshan's reptilian skin looks great in olive green and presents an attractive contrast against his bright light yellow flight suit. This is a vast improvement over the original figure, perfectly matching the colour seen in the film, while the dark red hoses printed on the front and back of the torso are similarly accurate.
The bounty hunter wears a flak vest and a grey support rig which is printed on the torso, hips and legs. I like the flare cartridges strapped around the knees but even more impressive are the claws printed on Bossk's feet which are vital to the design of the character in the movie. I am very pleased to see them represented here and cannot envisage how this minifigure can be bettered in future, other than by the addition of arm printing.
Dengar is the only one of the four minifigures which is not exclusive as an identical figure featured in 2016's 75145 Eclipse Fighter. Nevertheless, I like the white head wrap which leaves some scarring exposed and the bandage element introduced in the fifteenth series of the Collectable Minifigures is used perfectly here. His torso is equally detailed and I think the dark brown and white colour scheme looks great in relation to the film.
The bounty hunter wears a backpack which consists of five pieces and matches the original character design fairly well, as do the straps printed on his back. Dengar's legs are not decorated which is a bit of a shame, although he sports very simple armour in the movie so plain dark brown is probably sufficient in this instance.
Generic assassin droids appear in numerous Star Wars sets but IG-88 himself has only been seen twice before. The minifigure found in 10221 Super Star Destroyer featured a printed 1x1 cylinder on the head and a similar design appears here, although it now features some additional detail. I think a specialised head component would have been ideal for IG-88 but this simple assembly is certainly recognisable and I welcome his inclusion in a small set.
The torso, arms and legs are dark bluish grey in colour and look suitably spindly, although the articulation is limited. A blaster rifle is fitted to the back of the figure which is useful given IG-88's tendency to use multiple weapons. On the other hand, the mounting appears very awkward, particularly when viewed from the side as in the image below.
Darth Vader invites six bounty hunters to seek out the Millennium Falcon during The Empire Strikes Back but two of those characters have remained absent throughout the eighteen year history of LEGO Star Wars. Zuckuss' omission persists but 4-LOM finally makes his first appearance in this set and I think it has been worth the wait. This droid's bizarre head has been sculpted perfectly and the photoreceptors are printed with a lovely marbled design which is faithful to the movie.
Oddly, the top of the head includes a hole which looks as though it should receive a Friends hair accessory, perhaps revealing 4-LOM's hitherto unknown passion for fashion. In fact it is slightly too small for an accessory pin so the purpose of the hole is not immediately apparent. The moulded detail continues onto the back of the head and the torso is similarly realistic, with plenty of rust and worn paintwork alongside the exposed powerbus cables which appear on all Protocol droid minifigures.
I love the pearl dark grey colour which has been chosen for the torso and legs while a slightly lighter shade has been chosen for the head, reflecting the design of the character in the film! 4-LOM, like his fellow bounty hunters, is equipped with a standard stud shooter but in all other respects this is an exceptional minifigure and I consider the set to be a wise purchase based on his inclusion alone.
The Completed Model
Battle Packs rarely offer much of interest with regard to vehicles and this generic speeder bike conforms to that trend. I quite like the medium azure armour but the design is otherwise unremarkable. There is only room for one minifigure to ride which is slightly disappointing, although the rest could cling to the blasters at the rear if absolutely necessary. Seating all four characters would have been very difficult but two could certainly have been achieved, as it was in 7655 Clone Troopers Battle Pack.
The steering vanes are firmly fixed in place using Technic elements and you can adjust the panels at the forward end for turning corners. I like the structures mounted on either side of the vehicle as they help to distinguish it from past speeders, although their exact purpose remains a mystery at the moment. They could serve as blasters or as manoeuvring thrusters but the trailer for season two of The Freemaker Adventures, in which this model made a brief appearance, provides no confirmation.
A small windscreen protects the pilot from debris but the flanks are quite exposed, as on the majority of speeder bikes. The simple handlebar controls appear to have been designed for IG-88 but he is not able to sit behind them which seems like an oversight on the part of the designer. The other bounty hunters can be placed here and they look fine but are not able to hold the control yoke. Fuel tanks are situated just in front of the driver which seems rather dangerous, although the medium azure covers look great.
This speeder is heavily armed with two stud shooters and four adjustable laser cannons, the latter of which are fitted using hinges so can be turned to face the rear. A reddish brown backpack is stored above the engine, recalling the typical design of the 74-Z speeder bike and providing another accessory which can be attached to a minifigure.
Overall
Many Star Wars sets are criticised for their heavy reliance upon minifigures and this Battle Pack is a perfect example of such a trend, although it is no bad thing in this case. I cannot recall any set costing just £11.99 or $14.99 including such a brilliant selection of characters, most of whom will be new to even the most seasoned of LEGO Star Wars collectors given their prior exclusivity to much larger sets. All four minifigures are highly detailed and the brand new 4-LOM fills an enduring gap in the roster of Star Wars figures, although Zuckuss remains absent.
Ideally I would have liked to see Zuckuss included in favour of Dengar, particularly since the Corellian bounty hunter appeared in 75145 Eclipse Fighter last year. Furthermore, I must also acknowledge that the speeder bike is rather dull, even by the standards of a Battle Pack. However, the appeal of this set lies entirely in the minifigures and on that basis it is a worthy purchase in my opinion, even for the casual Star Wars fan. Hopefully we will continue to see small sets like this one containing a similarly impressive minifigure selection in future!
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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52 comments on this article
Amaizing little set but I'll pass as I have bigger game that i am aiming for (Rep Tank, a couple of Jungle sets and Beach Party).
When is it out?
Great Set, Great Review!
Bought this morning in smyths!
Say what you want about the freemaker adventures, but I think they're worth having in existence if they give us sets like this
great set! I just wish Bossk's legs were dual-moulded, that would look better
100% getting this without a doubt.
Nice one. Great standard of reviews recently chap.
@Jack Rizzo - Smyths toys have most already. I picked up this, the First order battle pack, the Republic tank and the Darth Vader transformation set a few days ago in York. They also had Rathtar Escape, Quadjumper, the 2 new Freemaker sets and the buildable figure biker scout.
Also, the Jedi fighter with jump ring is apparently a Smyths exclusive but the York store didn't have it yet.
Cool set!
Depending on how you judge it, this is either the best battle pack ever or the worst battle pack ever. Best judging from the quality of the figures, but worst by the original purpose of battle packs: as an army builder you buy a lot of.
Gotta have it!!!!!
"Perhaps revealing 4-LOM's hitherto unknown passion for fashion"
I love brickset reviews.
This set looks amazing. So many great figures and not a bad parts pack, either.
What a great set, it is perfect for me because i bought the SSD (10221) without figures for a great price and this sets figures will fill in perfectly.
EDIT: will you be reviewing the republic fighter tank CapnRex101?
Awesome set!
@AD 2003 - Yes, that will be coming up at some point in the next few days.
Great review, thanks. Given the generally similar shape of the face of 4-Lom and Zuckuss I can see Lego using 4-Lom's head for Zuckuss quite easily. May be that explains the hole on the top of the head.
@CapnRex101
Thank you for responding, I am looking forward to it as I am enjoying Starwars battlefront2, in which the fighter tank features prominently.
Great little set! Nice to battle packs with more exciting figures.
This is a definite must have purchase. I typically end up buying SW sets only for the figures anyway, so at this price with multiple figures I don't have, it's a no brainer. I almost bought Eclipse Fighter so many times, but then I saw this set. And I almost bought the previously most recent Dengar, but it was routinely going for 15-20$ by himself. Now I can get a better looking figure for less money. Win!
The set itself doesn't matter if it is good or bad. I just toss the pieces in with my collection and move on. Granted, my collection is getting too ridiculous, so if the price would be better to just buy the figures, I'd go that route, but it rarely is.
IG-88 needs a separate piece as a point on his head or a molded head as you mentioned. I would like a separate piece so that it would have more uses.
@Bricklunch - So you're telling us it's really Zuckuss who has the passion for fashion?
@CapnRex101 Where did you find it? It's not on LEGO LEGO.com yet.
@Brainslugged - there is no reason they both can't share the fashion passion. Looking at images of 4-Lom & Zuckuss on google there is no obvious attachment to explain such an attachment point for an accessory on either character. I think the costume designers for the film recycled the basic shape of the head for the 2 Bounty Hunters so I live in hope that Lego will do the same. Won't hold my breath though.
Hey IG88 looks like you sat in something and got a little something stuck back there. Might want to clean it up.
Last words spoken by Zuckuss
Does the hole go all the way through? I suspect it is a vent so the element does not get jammed, either in the mold or on the neck of a torso. Also, I agree with Speed Champions Fan that this is a must have for any star wars fan, but is not an army builder battle pack. I doubt anyone other than resellers will buy more than one.
Like a growing number I bought this set from Smyths earlier but I haven't built it yet - so it was interesting to read the review and background of the minifigures. The new First Order battle pack hasn't garnered much attention but that's a much better army builder - and you get FO swat shields to recreate the famously misnamed "TR-8R" sequence.
To be honest I'm still surprised that TLG even made a bounty hunter battle pack. They could've just kept them to larger (in the SSD's case read: massive) sets but they didn't! The Darth Vader transformation set also follows in that vein which is great news for the more casual or recently interested Lego SW fans to get key characters. Still not a fan of the new Vader helmet though.
Day one purchase for me
"4-LOM's hitherto unknown passion for fashion"
Great selection of minifigs! Nice review once again.
Wonder if they left the wings open to seat two more figs? So maybe three can ride into battle.
Be a nice speeder to modify and add more seating, weapons rack, etc. But nonetheless a great value and must buy for the figures.
Will there be a review of the quadjumper or the rathtar escape? I'm still... On the fence about the second.
Maybe the hole in 4-LOMs head is because it otherwise got stuck on the neck?
By the way, I don't know if it has already been mentioned, but in the intro of the carousel designer video there is a hint to the UCS MF! There is a shot in there of the designers with a big cardboard spaceslug and a small MF.
^ Check the UCS Falcon rumours in the forum :)
"I am very pleased to see them represented here and cannot envisage how this minifigure can be bettered in future, other than by the addition of arm printing."
How about, oh I dont know, dual molding.
@Privatematrix - The hole does go all the way through so you are probably right.
@Speed champions fan - I am hoping to review both sets at some point during the next couple of weeks.
@magmafrost - Perhaps, although the position of the line between plastic colours is standardised at the moment so dual-moulding just the feet is not possible except on miniature legs. Of course LEGO may update their moulding techniques in future, in which case separate feet would be great.
A most unexpected and welcome move by Lego. What are they going to do next? An "Imperial Officer Battle Pack"? Tarkin, Ozzel, Piet, Needa?
Count me in! :-)
Maybe a "Rebel leaders battle pack" with ackbar, mothma, madine and dodonna? That would be cool!
Amazing set for the minifig selection. I hope it sells like crazy and Lego releases more "battle packs" featuring named characters.
Absolutely need this for my cantina! It's no battle pack per se, but I'm not army building anyway..
It seems that battle pack builds are a bit like Marmite; you either love them or you hate them. Luckily for Lego, my feelings for Marmite are reversed for these. I'm not sure why they get so much hate! I mean, you can slot them into almost any scene with very few issues and some can even masquerade as civilian speeders, for example this one.
this will always be Zuckuss to me
http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/5361/8439309_1.jpg?v=8CB253D65214A80
This is a great buy-once kind of set so you can collect the bounty hunters, but like others have said, this isn't your typical army builder kind of set. Nice to Lego finally working towards the full line-up of bounty hunters. Now where's Zuckuss??
P.S. I still think Dengar looks better with the full classic ninja hood piece, makes a better face wrap than a headpiece and printing.
Agh, I need my Zuckuss! If he used that "graduation robe" cape piece to represent his robes, that would be perfect. I too, kinda wish Bossk had dual molded arms and legs, I mean, considering that his entire lower legs/arms are exposed in the actual character...
https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/bossk-3_61834c4c.jpeg?region=0%2C0%2C800%2C529
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CqD_Eexs_vE/UVt9kATqQqI/AAAAAAAAASg/ypARCeTKlH0/s1600/bossk_detail.png
http://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/death-star-dlc-bossk.jpg
... still, this is AWESOME! Boba Fett will no longer be so lonely on my shelf!
The hole on the top of 4LOM's head reminds me of minifigures after their keychain components were removed.
@CapnRex101 Bossk's pants stop about half way between his ankle and his knee, which in my opinion is close enough to his knee for dual molding to be appropriate, and the ring of flairs at the bottom of his pants is a similar colour to his skin anyway. Dual molding would definitely be appropriate on his arms, as well.
This is definately a must have set due to the minifigures. The souped-up swoop bike... not so much. I only had Bossk w/8097 and added custom hip, leg, and claw feet decals to mine, however this printed version looks a bit more, shall we say, professional than my version. Dengar is a meh, I have Eclipse Fighter and shelled out 20.00 to get the Super Star Destroyer version as well, so not sure what I'm going to do w/a Dengar Army (although 100 Dengars don't hold a candle to Boba Fett :) The printing for IG-88's head piece is as good as it gets w/o a custom head mold, and I'm glad I didn't shell out the 20.00 for his Super Star Destroyer version! And finally we get a 4-LOM, which I've had the decals to make my own for some time, yet even a nicely printed face w/4-LOM's features doesn't compare to a new head mold. Maybe someday we'll even get Zuckuss, which I've also had decals sitting around to make my own version of for way too long. Maybe by the time I get around to making my own Lego will make a much better one (as is the case for 4-LOM). Overall 3 great figs for 15.00, yeah I'll make that a day one purchase. As for the souped-up swoop bike, it'll sit built for a bit and then contribute to my parts bin.
@Tick1970 :-) ...I remember that error. Me and my friend argued about the name mix up as children :-D
WILL GET!
@legosolo77 the swoop is actually not too bad in hand, by which I mean the standard build is not so good, but the parts are great fun to mess with - it's got enough without any extra bits to make some fun little vehicles. I'm using it to make a hover 2CV with the 40252 mini Beetle
Can't wait to get these bounty hunters in my collection. I just feel they missed an opportunity to dual mold Bossk's arms at the least. Legs and arms at the most.
OMG! While this is not really a "battle pack" since this most likely isn't a set you would buy multiples of (unless you wanted to sell the minifigures for a quick buck), I love that you can get Bossk, IG-88, and Dengar, an we FINALLY are getting a minifigure of 4-LOM!