Pre Vizsla's Mandalorian Fighter (#9525)

If you watched the Clone Wars episode, you'll recognize this as the Gauntlet, Pre Vizsla's Mandalorian fighter. I think the Mandalorians are some of the coolest "bad guys" around. Jango Fett, Boba Fett, Death Watch... I know, not all the Mandalorians are bad. Obiwan's "friend" Dutchess Satine seems nice enough. It seems like there's a bit more going on between them though.

Anyhow, this set was fun to build (as opposed to all those other Lego sets which are so boring to build??). I like seeing the features develop as I'm building, like the rotating cockpit module. So, let's look at this one...

It comes with three minifigs, Obiwan Kenobi (yah, he's in a lot of sets, but this one makes sense), Pre Vizsla (I should hope so, since it's his fighter), and a generic Mandalorian. I really like Pre's helmet with the Death Watch symbol on it, makes it stand out from the other helmets. His little shoulder cape is a bit annoying when you're trying to sit him in the cockpit though.

There's a cargo container included, which makes a great place to store Pre's hair when he has his helmet on.

And the container fits nicely into the back, along with Pre's darksaber. Sounds a little cheesy, but I like the concept of an anti-lightsaber. Kinda like Superman and kryptonite.

There's a hatch on the bottom which lets the cargo container slide out rather nicely. The rear guns also rotate, which I'm sure comes in handy when being pursued.

Ordinarily I complain about the cockpit design and the minifigs not being secured in place. This would really be a problem here with two figs up front, but they have a clever little piece which holds the figure's legs in place. Nicely done, Lego.

Here's a side view in flight mode. It has a very nice "swoosh factor" once you get over the feeling the wings should be horizontal instead of vertical. The wings are surprisingly sturdy. Anyone who has tried to build large wings knows it can be tricky to keep them together without getting too bulky. Lego did very well with this one.

Here's the top view with the wings still in flight mode. This is how it gets stored on the shelf since I don't have room to have the wings standing up like they should be. The wings are 13" long, which means you need to have a lot of clearance when parking.

Here's a shot with my Mandalorian battle pack (#7914, not included), which is a great complimentary set (not that it says nice things about you, it just goes well with the fighter).

There really isn't anything I don't like about this model, I haven't even modified any of the parts. There are a few stickers, and I think I even managed to get them all on straight. Fans of the Clone Wars should really look at getting this one. There are some fun dogfights awaiting you, especially if you have a Jedi starfighter.