Friday, September 9, 2011

Hoth Wampa Cave (#8089)

I have had this set for quite a while now, but somehow missed posting it. Bad me. This is a good addition to the Hoth line-up. You get Luke in Hoth gear, the Wampa, and Zev Zenesca (which doesn't mean much if you have the Hoth battlepack), and a(nother) snowspeeder.
A photo of the set...
Here's a close-up of the cave. Luke gets to hang upside-down and reflect on the merits of not chasing meteor sightings without backup. I thought the mystery ribs were a nice touch. The lightsaber launcher is okay, it's fine as a holder but if you're trying to actually launch the saber, it only works about half of the time.
Your friendly neighborhood Wampa. His left hand will hold a minifigure rather nicely. Some of the movie "purists" are complaining the arm should come off. I say, "get over it."
Here's the snowspeeder and Zev. Personally, I would've included a different pilot considering Zev is available in the battlepack. If you have the Hoth Rebel Base set (#7666), there are only a few minor differences between the two versions. A slight change to the engine design (they're not built to come off either)...
 
...the harpoon gun on the back uses the classic megaphone/pistol instead of the double-handle on the previous version...
...orange sloped bricks instead of light grey, and a few more stickers.

Unless you stocked up on the snowspeeder when it came out on its own (#4500), this is the cheapest way to add one to your collection. Your other alternative is to get it off bricklink, you can usually find just the ship by itself after the seller has removed the minifigs. There really isn't anything I don't like in this set. A few things I would've done differently, but nothing I'd consider a deal breaker. It's always nice to have another snowspeeder, and the price/feature is pretty good too.