7104 - Desert Skiff

Rating:
Pros: Luke and his lightsaber; Han Solo; the skiff in general
Cons: Han's weapon (where's his blaster?); only two mini-figs
Contents: 53 pieces including 2 mini-figs
Price: $5.99
Reviewed: 7-Jul-2000
Reviewed by: Brandon Eckhardt

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight, and Han Solo, Captain of the Millennium Falcon, headed North in a desert skiff they had recently acquired from Jabba's palace. Han said to Luke, "That was just way too close for comfort." The duo had barely escaped from Jabba's grasp and were heading to the place where Han's ship and copilot were waiting. "Lucky for me this skiff came equipped with a weapon," Han commented dryly, indicating the spear he was holding. "Though I doubt that the guard who was holding this wanted to give it up."
After a few minutes of silence had passed, Han said," No offense Luke, but let's get off this miserable dustbowl of a planet and get back to the fleet. It is just too hot." Luke just chuckled as the Falcon came into view. "I heartily agree with you, Han."

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The 7104 Desert Skiff is an overall good set to pick up and add to your collection (or to start one). It has some great special pieces and seems more filled out than other sets from the Star Wars Lego collection. Aside from Han Solo (who comes equipped with a spear of all things) and Luke Skywalker (who comes with a greenish-yellow lightsaber), the skiff is the main attraction. Now that I realize it, the spear does belong in the set. In the movie, Han uses a spear to knock Boba Fett into the Sarlacc pit.
The skiff is built using many pieces that you can find in other sets or in your own Lego collection. A few special pieces are the brown railing (which you can find in most of the Lego train sets in colors other than brown), sand-colored bricks (a couple of flats and two 1x2x2 round pieces), and two special hinge pieces to make the steering vanes tilt (you can't find these anywhere else). Colorations are mostly black, a tiny bit of blue (one flat 1x2 to be precise), a good amount of brown, some gray, some light-gray (three 1x1x2's), and some sand-colored bricks as mentioned above.
The whole skiff is pretty much well filled out with colors (in the past, Lego company has concentrated on mostly one color in a model). I wish Han Solo came with his blaster and I would have liked more people with the set (such as Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, etc.) but oh well...I'll live.
For the record, I like the skiff because you can use it as a great mass transit vehicle (nine to ten mini-figs can fit) which is great if you want to get a lot of people out of an especially dangerous situation. For $5.99 you can buy quite a few for a small amount of money. If you want Han Solo but don't want to pay $100.00 for him (he comes with the Millennium Falcon set as well), then I would definitely pick this set up. You can also use Luke's lightsaber blade for other things (like a laser bolt) or add it to your other lightsaber with the same color (if you have one) to make a double-bladed one.
This is an all around great set to get. I give it four stars.