Review: 2013 Star Wars polybags
Posted by Huw,
It's been a while since I posted any reviews, hasn't it. I've been busy with scanning my instructions, but now that's coming to and end I have time to crack open some sets and review them for you.
From a polybag point of view, this year has been unusual in that nearly all those that were revealed earlier in the year by LEGO in their building instructions portal, are now available in one place or another. Normally, we have to wait months to get our hands on them, more often than not, for the first UK newspaper promotion (which may or may not be happening this year).
Thanks to Bricksetters in the USA, Canada and elsewhere, I now have the four Star Wars polybags 30240-30243, so I thought it might be worthwhile taking a look at them all together so you can decide which to buy. Of course if you're a polybag collector you'll want to get hold of them all, but if not you might want to just pick up those that are decent models with good parts, because polys can be comparatively expensive when sold in the likes of Target and even more so on the secondary market.
30240: Z-95 Headhunter
It's common for LEGO to produce micro-scale versions of currently available minifig-scale sets, perhaps as a marketing attempt to get you to buy the larger, expensive one. 30240 Z-95 Headhunter is one such example.
It's a sleek model that works well at this scale. It's a pretty good representation of the later variant of the ship which you can see at Wookiepedia.
Notice the new, and still rare, 3x3 grey plate at the bottom. Note also the landing gear, which is a nice touch, and which balances the model when it's laid down.
This is a great model, which is very 'swooshable' and is definitely worth getting hold of.
In the USA, it's available in Walmart.
30241: Mandalorian Fighter
30241 Mandalorian Fighter is a Toys R Us exclusive in the USA and Canada. It's a mini version of last year's 9525 Pre Vizsla's Mandalorian Fighter.
The wings are well made and robust but the means by which they attach the the fuselage, using a 'Double Bush 3M Ø4.9' means that they flap about a bit. I don't know if they are supposed to, but it's annoying!
The cockpit rotates which enables the ship to adopt the configuration shown on the bag, with the wings vertical.
There's not much to look at underneath, it's all a bit plain.
I'm not so impressed with this one: attempts to swoosh it usually result in the wings flapping about and while it looks much like it should, it doesn't quite work at this scale, IMO.
30242: Republic Frigate
30242 is the model that's currently available when you spend $75/£50 on Star Wars sets at shop.LEGO.com. The full size version of the frigate 7964 came out in 2011. Comparing the shape and design of the two, I think the designers have done a pretty good job of minitaurising it. Perhaps the engines are as bit prominent, but otherwise it's spot on.
Not much to see underneath other than the SNOT techniques at the front, for the escape pod.
Not a bad model, then. If you still have 2013 SW sets to buy, and don't mind paying full price for them, then it's worth doing so now in order to get hold of it. I think it's true to say that it's unlikely to be available elsewhere in future now that it's been used in a LEGO promotion.
30243: Umbaran MHC
Last but not least is 30243 Umbaran Mobile Heavy Cannon. This is another one that's a miniature version of a current model, 75013, which I have but haven't built yet.
It's an interesting vehicle that makes a nice change from spaceships. It's spider-like form has been recreated elegantly in this model.
Although it will support its own weight on its legs, it's easy to squash it from above and splay out the legs, so a 2x2 trans-clear round brick is provided to prevent that.
It's a good model for parts if you're after 2x2 plates with bars/clips.
The only availability we have noted in the database is for Canada where it's available in Chapters bookstores. I believe it's also been seen in eastern Europe. Hopefully it will become more widely available soon, because it's definitely worth picking up.
To summarise then, I'll rank the four models from 'must have' at the top to 'could give it a miss' at the bottom:
- The Z-95 Headhunter is easily the best of the bunch: a great looking model which is fun to play with
- The Umbaran MHC is an interesting and unusual model
- The Republic Frigate is a competent representation of the large space craft, but perhaps a bit boring
- The Mandalorian Fighter looks OK but flaps about in the wind as soon as you pick it up
I hope that helps you with your purchasing decisions: happy polybag hunting!
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15 comments on this article
Getting th Z-95 and the MHC. Thanks for the news.
Huw, are you going to publish a review of the Palace Cinema? I'd like to know what you think of it.
I think I'll get 30240-30242, 40&42 for parts and they look nice, 41 just for parts. If I can find them at TRU, Target, or Walmart that is.
Btw, I saw Republic Frigate at Target a while ago.
@The_Creator, I keep hearing people say that they've seen that set at Target. I have looked constantly between 3 of them, I can't find it. It's really annoying me.
I remember buying some Star Wars Lego last year to get the free 8028 polybags, only to find that they were given away in the Sun for 30p(?) two months later. That sort of puts me off buying anything at full price just to get the 30242 Republic Frigate polybag. I'm not sure what I dislike most - missing out on a polybag completely, or discovering that I could have got it for 10x cheaper :)
I will doubtless be getting all four eventually, but that Z-95 Headhunter looks particularly brilliant. Thanks for the reviews Huw.
I've seen 30053- Republic Attack Cruiser at Target. Are you sure @The_creator that you've seen 30242 there?
In my opinion, the Republic Frigate looks the best.
I'd say, at least for me, that the Mandalorian Fighter seems the coolest, due to the rotating wings (I don't think I would mind the wings), but Umbaran MHC looks the best.
Has anyone seen the Umbaran MHC is the US? I'm assuming not, since it's not in the post... but I really hope to find it at some point in the near future.
n1 set in germany... 30242 is availiable over lego but the rest...... the german-starwars-polybag-nightmare :(
@Margot, now that I look at it, given a choice, I think it was actually 30053…
Great review, thought I would LOVE the Mandalorian Fighter but after building it thought "eh". Didn't much care for the Headhunter until building it, then thought "COOL"! Have yet to build my frigate and am anxiously awaiting the appearance of the Umbaran MCH in the US.
I just picked up the Z-95 headhunter at walmart. Strangly I found it in the easter section.
Just ordered some of the Umbarran polys off of EBay, from Canada. Couldn't wait for it to come to the US.