Star Wars Collection III - The Droids
Written: Sep 02 '02 (Updated Apr 19 '03)
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Pros: Great for building up forces, nice addition to the series, looks great on display.
Cons: Not exactly the cheapest way to collect the droids.
The Bottom Line: Great for collectors, Star Wars fans or those that are just flat out Lego junkies, this set is a great addition to the Star Wars Mini Heroes Collection.
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| Freak369's Full Review: LEGO Star Wars Mini Heroes Collection III |
The third installment of the Star Wars Mini Heroes Collection features three droids that stand at attention awaiting your orders. Don't let their stripped down bodies and empty gaze fool you, they are nothing more than killing machines. Even so, I think they are pretty cute. A droid – cute? Hey, even droids need love.
While this set is by no means a necessity, it is nice if you are planning on picking up all the Star Wars Mini Heroes Collection sets. One word of warning, there are some extremely small pieces included in this set. The arms, loudhailer attachments and finishing tiles for the droids are all elements that need to be kept track of. While these can easily be replaced if lost, they present an extreme choking hazard to smaller children. If you plan on displaying these, please make sure they will be out of reach of the little ones.
The Battle Droids
The two battle droids in this set are exactly alike so this section will cover both of them. I’m not exactly sure why I have such an attraction to the droids, possibly their simplicity and dedication to their mission. Whatever the attraction, these droids are the workforce that carry out the orders and are a few steps ahead of the pit droids in my personal opinion.
The head portion of the droid is basic and lacks any real detail except for the two small indentations that serve as eyes. This head piece snaps firmly into the torso of the droid and it’s this torso piece that acts as the connector between the head and legs. If you have an aliens from the Life On Mars series you can use the pieces from the alien bodies as replacements if you lose an arm or want to swap out for a better color scheme. The torso pieces for the battle droids are available in a plethora of colors and are widely available in other Lego sets so if the standard droid isn’t working for you – feel free to mix and match.
The legs have positionable knee joints that allow you to pose them in a variety of positions – check out the photos of the larger Star Wars sets to see some of the cool ways of storing them for transport. This ingenious design works well with the head pieces offering you a lot of different scene options. The legs can also be attached to flat base plates – this is a nice feature if you are creating a large scene with droids since you won’t have to worry about them tipping over.
The Command Officer
To those that are unfamiliar with the Lego sets or even the droids of the Star Wars film, it might be a little hard to tell the command officer apart from the battle droids. The first tell tale sign is the structure of the torso. The battle droids have a small round hub where a round Lego element can be attached, the command officer lacks this section. The command officer also has a larger open port at the bottom of the torso – something that is visible from almost every angle of positioning.
Another distinguishing mark of the command officer is the ornate marking on the head. This oval ended streak runs from the mid section of the head to the back portion and conjoins with the back extension of the head. The back section is also stenciled with a light orange color – serving as a way to distinguish ranking as well as giving the ability to tell the different droids apart.
Accessories
The only extras you will find in this set are three loudhailers with neon orange clear Lego elements that are to be attached to the ends of them. I would have liked to have seen some other accessories included with this set but the sad fact is – droids are pretty boring. If you have other Star Wars sets you can pick through them and see if there are any small items that could be substituted but as I said, a droids life isn’t exactly glamorous. Don’t bother with tools as accessories; those are best left for the pit droids.
Display Stands
The display stands included with this set are one of the main reasons to purchase it. If you are simply looking for extra droids, look elsewhere since this will put you in the poor house before you gather enough to create an army. The display stands feature the etched Star Wars logo and come with three information cards. The cards feature three different photo scenes on one side and the reverse side has a small piece of text about the figure.
One of the strange things about these display stands is that there is only one 2x2 flat Lego element provided to join the stands together. Since these are a staple of Lego building it shouldn’t be hard to track one down if you wish to join all three bases together. To me this is just sloppy designing by the Lego creators and should be something addressed with future Mini Heroes Collection editions.
My Two Cents
Since I have such a love for all the droids from the Star Wars film I saw this as a great opportunity to build up my stock of battle droids. Much like my botched ordering of the Bike Scouts, I rushed into ordering these sets without thinking about the bottom line. Considering that you are only getting two battle droids in this set you could – in theory – pick up the Battle Droid Carrier [set 7126] for the suggested retail price of $9.99 and end up with 7 droids plus a cool ship to transport them. Even if you scrap the pieces for the ship and use them for stock, you are still left with 7 droids [plus all the cool accessories]. If you are going to take this avenue to build up your troops please don’t confuse the Battle Droid Carrier with the Trade Federation MTT which also includes 7 battle droids but for a suggested retail price of $47.99.
Things To Know
Some of the droids you receive in this set or in other Star Wars Lego sets might not be exactly perfect. A few of mine had small plastic overlays [little indents] that were barely visible from a few inches away but if you were looking at them close up – these imperfections were immediately noticeable. I picked up some sandpaper and tried to even out the spots but had no luck. Some droids had these and other didn’t which led me to believe that this was not part f the overall design of the figure but a manufacturing error. If you purchase this set or any set containing droids and are unsatisfied with them please contact the Lego customer service department about getting a replacement.
The Bottom Line
As a Lego junkie I had to have this set just to complete the series. While this isn’t exactly the least expensive way to build up an army they do look very nice on the provided display stands. Overall this is a great set for collectors or fans of the Star Wars films and would make a great gift at a very reasonable price. If you are purchasing this set to amass an army of droids, there are less expensive ways to go about it but picking up this set gives you the cool Star Wars display bases. Any way you look at it, it all boils down to what your intents are with the droids.
The Stats
Set Name: Star Wars Collection III
Mini Heroes Collection
Family Set: Star Wars
Lego Set: 3343
Number of Pieces: 31
Age Recommendation: 5 and older
Ease Of Assembly: Easy
Time Of Assembly: 5 – 10 minutes
Cost: $4.99
As always, thanks for the read!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2002 Freak369
Star Wars Mini Heroes Collection I
Star Wars Mini Heroes Collection II
Star Wars Mini Heroes Collection IIII
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $4.99
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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