Bounty Hunter Gunship (#7930)

This one is the Bounty Hunter Gunship, or the Halo as it is called on Clone Wars. I wasn't sure if I wanted this one, but then I saw the episode again and changed my mind. If you're familiar with the set, you'll notice the black assassin droid is conspicuously absent from the photos. That's because I didn't think it was worth the effort to put it together. I don't think anyone would've missed it had Lego not included it in the set. Anyone who wanted one would've purchased the battlepack.

Here's the ship from the side. Both side panels swing open to give access to the cockpit up top and the prisoner compartment below. It would've been nice to fit more than one figure in the cockpit, but we deal with what we have. Aurra Sing is in the driver's seat, Sugi and Embo (with the big hat) are the other two bounty hunters. The geek in me says I should point out the writing on the nose art sticker. It's supposed to say "Nice playing with ya", but as near as I can tell, it actually says, "gaig fshtgho". It seems something got lost in the translation... Maybe they thought no one would notice.

The front view. I do like the looks of the ship, the front looks intimidating. There are a few stickers with this kit, so be careful when putting them on. Most of them are pretty big, which means unless you're really good at pealing them off, you only get one shot at it.

The back hatch opens to show the prisoner compartment. Instead of including the cheap assassin droid figure, it would've made more sense (to me anyway) to include someone who could be used as a prisoner.

The engine pods in flight mode. Sliding the rear section of the tail will move the pods back and forth between flight and landing modes. As you can see, unless you're holding the back of the ship, the weight of the pods is enough to pull them down slightly. The first design flaw in the set.

The second flaw is the lid to the cockpit. If you tilt the ship more than 90 degrees, the lid flips open. This could be somewhat embarrassing during combat. Either the clips need to be notched or the lid needs to be secured when closed. Since there are no studs along the top of the cockpit, notching the hinge seems to be the best bet.

There is a concealed storage compartment when in flight mode. The little blue thing is supposed to be a Jedi holocron.

So, this was an interesting build. Nothing too difficult, but I liked how they managed the engine pod mechanism. This one has a good swoosh factor, but would be even better with improvements to the pods and the lid as mentioned. It's still a fun ship and I'd recommend it for any Star Wars Lego fan.

Mace Windu's Jedi Starfighter (#7868)

I've been watching for Mace Windu's starfighter ever since January when, for reasons unknown, it was released in Europe but not the rest of the world. So when it showed up on the Canadian website, I was very excited. Every time I had a trip to Calgary I somehow managed to find myself in the Lego Store. Unfortunately, the store is about two and a half weeks behind the website on product availability. When they finally did get the new kits in, they didn't have Mace's starfighter, but were nice enough to order it for me and have it delivered to me (thanks Zach and Troy!).

For those of you who, like me, have the other three Clone Wars Jedi Starfighters and possibly even Obi-Wan's Episode II fighter, you may wonder why you should get this one. I think Lego may have anticipated this. Unlike Plo Koon's (#8093) and Anakin's (#7669) starfighters, this set comes with some battle droids to round things off a bit.

The TX-20 Tactical Droid and speeder is a nice touch, and exclusive to this set. I'll be trolling Bricklink for a couple more of these...

Two battle droids and STAPs (Single Trooper Aerial Platform), these are not so exclusive. These are the same build as the one found in the AT-TE set (#7675) and fairly close to the battlepack version (#7654).

Here are Mace Windu and his astromech droid R8-B7 in front of the fighter

I don't know why Lego is using flat tiles for the cockpits now. The minifigs just don't sit right unless there's something holding them in place. If you have the spare parts, replace the 2x2 tile with a 1x2 studded plate and a 1x2 tile as shown here. This will hold Mace firmly in place while still keeping it easy to get him in and out.

I was so excited with Plo Koon's starfighter because it didn't have any flick-fire missiles (the goofy ejection system is another discussion). Mace's fighter comes with four missiles on the underside. Each push rod will fire two missiles. As far as flick-fire missiles go, these are relatively easy to access so if you like missiles this will be a plus for you. If you don't, the missile compartment comes off very easily with the only down-side being that it leaves the ship looking off-balanced without it.

The front view of the fighter. Noticeably absent are the wing-mounted guns each of the other variants have in one form or another. I guess they figure having four missiles underneath must make up for it. Some reviews have criticized Lego for using so many stickers. Personally, I don't see a problem with it. I'm sure if it were cheaper to preprint the pieces, Lego would be all over it. If a few stickers keep the price down, I'm all in favor.

The rear view of the ship. There are two clips on the back of the wings to hold Mace's lightsaber (one for the hilt, the other for the blade). I like the transparent blue pieces in the engine pods, they look better than their plain predecessors. I'll be retro-fitting the engines on other Clone Wars fighters to match these.

So, is it worth buying yet another version of the Jedi Starfighter? If you didn't pick up the Republic Attack Shuttle (#8019) and don't already have the Clone Wars version of Mace, then that's a pretty good reason right there. It's nice for Mace to have his own starfighter so he doesn't have to ride around in the shuttle everywhere he goes. Sure, he could hitch a ride in the Jedi Shuttle (#7931), but sometimes it's nice to travel alone. Even if you already have all the other Jedi Starfighter kits and Mace Windu, I would still recommend this set. The droids are a nice addition and the starfighter is just fun to play with, and in the end that's the point behind Lego.

Geonosian Starfighter (#7959)

At first I wasn't too sure about this set, I put it on my list because it came with Ki-Adi Mundi. But once I had it assembled, it really grew on me. It's very difficult to hold this one and not swoosh it.

It comes with three minifigs: a Geonosian, Ki-Adi Mundi, and Commander Cody. I thought Ki-Adi's head would be one piece, but it's a standard minifig head with a "hat".

The ship's gun rotates from side to side... Not really an astounding feat of engineering here. I like how the top and bottom fit together to keep the stud-sides facing out.

The rear view. There have been some comments on the Lego site from people who don't really like the engine module, but I think it works.

The bottom flap opens to drop a bomb. It does a good job of staying closed in flight, so you don't have to worry about premature deployment.

I like the new canopy design with the clip bar instead of needing the hinge brick. It's nice not having to leave a space in front of the hinge to allow it to open.

Do yourself a favor when you're building the cockpit. Take out the two 1x3 grey tiles and put in a 1x2 plate and a 2x2 tile instead. This will keep the pilot secure while still making it easy to get in and out. The pilot does tend to rattle around a bit during flight without having the plate to keep him in place.

So, I ended up liking this one more than I thought. The only problem I have with this set is why they included two very specific figures in such a generic kit. I want to get another starfighter, but I don't need another Ki-Adi or Cody. At the same time, I probably wouldn't have added this to my list were it not for the Ki-Adi figure. I'll probably turn to my trusted Bricklink to find someone selling just the ship and the pilot.