Review: 75006 Jedi Starfighter and Kamino
Posted by Huw,
Wasn't it a quiet weekend for news? Two days without finding anything to post about is unusual. So, let's kick-start the week with short and sweet reviews of all three of the Series 3 Star Wars Planet sets.
First up, I'll take a look at 75006 Jedi Starfighter and Kamino, which I'm hoping is going to be better than the disappointment that was B-Wing and Endor from Series 4.
Kamino is "the watery world where the Clone Army for the Galactic Republic was created, as well as the Kamino Home Fleet. It was inhabited by a race of tall, elegant beings called the Kaminoans, who kept to themselves and were known for their cloning technology. Kamino was located just south of the Rishi Maze, and was governed by the Ruling Council, headed by the Prime Minister. "
Source Wookiepedia
Box and contents
No surprises here then, a planet with two bags inside it, and an instruction book, all in a box with a cut-out front and back for the planet to protrude through.
The actual planet is 'ADU Blue' as first seen in the Alien Conquest sets.
The minifig
The 'minifig' is an astromech droid, R4-P17, a distant relation to R2-D2 I imagine. There's nothing remarkable about him but, like all astromechs, he's quite cute. He is, however, unique to this set.
"R4-P17, nicknamed R4, or Arfour, was the astromech droid attached to Obi-Wan Kenobi's Delta-7 Aethersprite-class starfighter and was often on board his Delta-7B Aethersprite-class starfighter and Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor prior to and during the Clone Wars. " Source Wookiepedia
The Starfighter
I'm very glad to say that, unlike the B-Wing, the ship in this set is excellent. It uses SNOT techniques, utilising the new 'Angular Plate 1,5 Top 1 x 2 1/2' brackets to good effect to create a smooth, symmetrical nose and wing profile. The printed 1 x 1 round tile is particularly nice.
The completed model
Like the other Planets, this comes with a base, featuring a unique printed 4 x 4 tile, to mount the minifig and ship onto.
Conclusion
This is a excellent set and there's nothing to dislike about it: the minifig is great and the ship is very well made, looks like it should, and is very 'swooshable'.
The cost of the Planets, in the UK at least, at £9.99 is perhaps a little on the high side, although if this year is anything like last year, Argos will soon have them available 3-for-2. In the USA, $9.99 is probably about right.
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16 comments on this article
This is a beautiful little set.
Although for what it is, it is not bad, I was really hoping for Jango Fett and his Slave, or a Kaminoan (a species critical in both the Prequel trilogy and the Clone Wars series) with an Aiwha, or an orbital medical bay. This model and figure, while not bad in their own right, really don't fit the planet, as they were on it for less than a day.
Great review as always.
We're still missing an actual Kaminoan minifigure. On topic, the ship looks real nice for its size. The Droid also looks nice.
To be honest I thought the starfighter model was going to be as nicely built but Lego proved me wrong. Hopefully they'll prove us wrong again and make a nice Mandolore Planet set with Jango.
LEGO is never going to make a Kaminoan minifigure since they'd require a new, unique mold and they're just supporting (and VERY passive) characters. Unless the lead character in the next Star Wars movie is a Kaminoan there's about 0% chance of that ever happening.
As for this set, I love the astromech but the ship looks way too chunky and simple to me. Would've much preferred it if they'd built it with plates instead.
By the way, Huw, Spanish Amazon is selling the other two Series 4 sets in case you want to do more early reviews.
I always love these small Lego Star Wars sets it just takes me back to the day of Star Wars Micro Machines.
Didn't realize R4 is unique to this set. Will have to pick this up and display next to Obi-wans UCS Delta straighter for sure
I might buy two of this just for the unique pieces.
today i saw the first of the 2013 sets in a retailers in uk. whsmiths had the sith and republic battle pack, i couldnt belive they were charging £16.99 for it!!! suprised anyone buys from wh smiths.
first set ive seen, has anyone in uk seen the other sets yet? if so where as im desperate to get them. thanks
While I too would rather have seen a new Jango Fett or a Kaminoan with their respective mode of transport, this is actually looking like a very nice little set, thanks for the review Huw.
@Graysmith: If Lego is willing to produce figures like Pong Krell as well as new helmet designs for a lot of the clonetroopers and sith troopers, why couldn't they do a new mold for a Kaminoan? Just saying, with all the money spent on those new molds alone, a Kaminoan one could be doable.
Btw, saw the new SW sets in my local Wal-Mart today. The "battle packs" are kind of a rip, at nearly $16 for 4 figures and a cheap little craft thing. Surprised to see the Rancor set though.
Very nice review, and set.
Very nice set. I gave up on the planet sets with the Death Star, but now you've peaked my curiosity again, Huw. :)
In general I like these planets sets. They are nice desk decoration pieces, eventually without the actual planet.
Lego has already delivered us some nice figs with this planet line, but with this set I am with those that think they missed an oportunity. I would have preferred an updated Jango or Kaminoan instead of yet another recoloring of the astromech droid.
For those who see the problem of needing new molds as the reason why we are not getting a Kaminoan, I am not conviced about that. If we accept that the tall Kaminoan race is represented at normal minifig size (as are e.g. the Wookies too, or, contrary, minifig Ewoks are proportionally to big), then I think a new print on a white or light gray CMF alien would work fine. The headshape of the alien is almost spot on imo. And since TLG likes to reuse parts introduced in the CMF line into other lines (or vice versa).. it would be a logical choice.
The problem I see is: what ship or vehicle will go with the figure? As this usual is the pilot or driver.
In EP2 you see the Kaminoans only walk around in their buildings; maybe there is a kind of Kaminoan ship available from CW, but I have never seen the cartoons.
I liked the Series 1 & 2 planet sets. Builds were fun and the ships looked great.
But the two reviewed so far, the B-Wing and this one aren't as good in terms of its looks.