LEGO STAR WARS: DUEL ON GEONOSIS – 75017 REVIEW

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Star Wars: Duel on Geonosis

Pieces: 391

Ages: 8-14

Mini Figures: 4

  • Yoda
  • Count Dooku
  • Poggle the Lesser
  • FA-4 Pilot Droid

Price: £39.99

What’s inside

3 numbered bags of Lego bricks

Instruction booklet

Background

Whether you love or loathe the Star Wars prequel trilogy the one scene which must have brought a smile to your face was the scene in Episode II where we finally see Yoda showing off his skills with the lightsaber against his former student, Count Dooku.

Whilst a memorable scene, Lego has essentially released a set of a lightsaber duel in surroundings which are thoroughly forgettable in themselves. Therefore, as tends to happen with many smaller Lego sets, again the minifigures have to carry the set. Luckily then, they really succeed in this. All four minifigures are unique to the set although the pilot droid is a pretty standard looking brick built figure aside from some unique printing on the head part.

As mentioned, the Yoda figure is new for the set and is by far the best looking Yoda released so far with a new printed rubberised head. The head mould is very nicely detailed and doesn’t have that cartoony look of the Yoda from the Clone Wars sets. If you are a Star Wars fan, even if you are only interested in the original trilogy sets and characters, this figure should be part of your minifigure collection.

Count Dooku  has received a remake as well with double sided face printing and a new white hair piece as opposed to the previous gray upstanding hair piece. The face has a much better likeness to Christopher Lee than the previous versions. The minifigure also comes with Dooku’s distinctive curved lightsaber, a brown cape and a Sith lightning piece which he uses against Yoda in the film.

The final figure is Poggle the Lesser, the Archduke of Geonosis and one of the leaders of the Separatists. Poggle has a unique head moulding compared to other Geonosians released and has a printed cylinder piece showing the plans for the Death Star he delivers to Dooku prior to the battle. His body and legs also have a unique printing and it comes with standard geonosian plastic sheet wings.

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Building

The 391 piece count allows for what is essentially a nice background for the duel. If you have any recollection of the surroundings in the film, then it will probably be of the large archway where you initially see Yoda’s shadow appear as Dooku is just about to kill Anakin and Obi Wan. The arch design is really nice, emulating a very natural looking but majestic stone carved arch giving contrast to the futuristic surroundings and machinery.

The rest of the back wall is made up mostly of various arches intermingled with some electric cabling which gives it a very decent Geonosis look in brown and gray colours. A couple of play features have been added, the first being a curious pole on which you can attach Yoda on to enable him to jump around Dooku as he does in the film. There is also a stone section which can be flicked off by Dooku using his Sith powers and the large column that Dooku drops on Anakin and Obi Wan which Yoda has to stop allowing Dooku to escape in the end.

Included is also Dooku’s small speeder bike which again is a nice design and true to its look in the films.

The building techniques used are standard and should not pose problems to fans of Lego of any age.

Finished product

Although the Geonosian hangar building is pretty nicely designed this set really does not have any display value. For adult fans, all of the value, as often is the case, is in the minifigures which do look nice and are all unique to the set. It is perhaps a little strange that the set did not include Anakin and Obi Wan as they are much more part of the scene than Poggle or the droid, but on this occasion the choice was probably correct. Whether you are an adult collector or child playing with it, you are likely to have several Anakins and Obi Wans already whereas new figures are always popular.

As a play set, the Duel on Geonosis does work, although I’m not sure if the Yoda on a stick idea is particularly effective. I suspect children will be quite happy to move him around with their fingers as always before, but it is nice to see Lego try something new. At the £40 price point though, there is a lot of choice in the market and ultimately a space ship might be preferable for a play session as well, as aside from the speeder, the brick count really does not add that much active content.

In conclusion, although the set is nicely designed, the topic of most of the piece count just isn’t that interesting. The draw of the set are the excellent new minifigures which may or may not make it a worthwhile purchase for you.

http://shop.lego.com/en-GB/Duel-on-Geonosis-75017

Marko Hyypia

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