7128 - Speederbikes

Rating:
Pros: 3 mini-figs; very good as a standalone for a small set; speederbikes are cool
Cons: Not great rebuild potential; should be smaller and cheaper
Contents: 90 pieces including 3 mini-figs
Price: $9.99
Reviewed: 7-Aug-2000
Reviewed by: Gareth Bowler

Chikklett the Ewok scampered across the forest floor. He admired the glistening dew on the grass, marveled at the tall trees that reached up to the sky disappearing into the morning mist. He picked flowers for his friends and danced a little jog of joy. All of Endor seemed to be smiling with him. Suddenly, Chikklett saw a large brown thing with a white thing on top moving toward him very fast! He had never seen an animal like this one before and was intrigued by the high-pitched humming noise it made. He wondered if it would be his friend.
SPLAT! A sudden collision and Chikklett was reduced to chunky salsa.
"See?" gloated scout trooper #1, wiping Ewok residue off his visor, "I told you! Like a lightsaber through butter!"
Scout trooper #2 answered, "Yeah, I guess I owe you lunch, now."

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This set consists of Luke, a tree, two scout troopers, and two identical speederbikes. At first I thought this was a little strange, thinking the speederbike would be better off packaged by itself with one scout trooper at a much lower cost. While this may have been a better idea, this little set is still pretty cheap and is really a pretty great stand-alone set all by itself. Normally, I'm not a fan of random scenery pieces like this lone tree, but here I'll make an exception. The tree is great for ambushes or crashing into.

It does seem a little odd that this set includes, essentially, two duplicates of the primary model, but if you think about the movie, the speederbikes always show up in pairs and it's hard to act out a good chase scene with only one bike. The bikes are made of those 8x6 bricks with the dip in the middle, two standard Star Wars cannons for the forward stabilizers, and small skis for the landing gear.
About the only way to improve the model would be to put a hinge on the skis so they can tilt back 45 degrees like in the movie.

The tree is made of several 2x4 and 2x2 brown bricks and a couple decorative leafy parts. It rests on a smallish, light green (I haven't seen this color anywhere else) plate. The only unique parts are the scout trooper mini-figs (whose helmets are a little too big) and Luke's Endor camouflage torso. There are a couple of rare pieces (like the triangular clips on the front of the bikes) and the Star Wars standard gun pieces, but not really anything you can't find elsewhere in other colors.

Anyway, to finish up...for being small, this is a fabulous stand-alone set with great mini-figs and even better vehicles. The only thing that stops it from being a 5 is low rebuild potential and the fact that there are better sets, albeit none of them are this cheap.
As of this writing it is getting very hard to find this in stores. If you find it online, pick it up. It's one of the best $10 sets you�ll ever buy.