This was a cool set to build for multiple reasons. I admit, the main thing I wanted was the snowspeeder, but this also had a Hoth Luke minifigure and A WAMPA!!! Seriously, a Wampa! Endless hours of fun with this set.
For the price, this one isn’t very difficult to put together. The snowspeeder is the most complicated part of the set, which really doesn’t mean it’s hard, especially if you’ve already built the base set that came with one. A couple details of it have been changed, such as that the harpoon gun is now a bullhorn element. Make sure you tie the string on there tightly, since the knot came loose once for me on the grappler element. You get one pilot with it, but if you have the Hoth Rebel Trooper Battle Pack, you can add a gunner. You can also grab Luke from the AT-AT set and make him the pilot.
The cave is fairly easy to build and serves primarily as just a big wall, but it does have a couple of really cool features. For example, an angle plate allows Luke to hang upside down from the roof of the cave. Another cool aspect is that part of the cave holds Luke’s lightsaber, and when you press down quickly, it shoots up to Luke as if he used force pull (he does not, of course, actually catch it, so it’s more like a flick-missile).
The Wampa is a unique minifigure to this set, and like larger minifigures, he’s a hybrid between a minifigure and a buildable set. He also comes with a chicken leg that you can pretend once belonged to Luke’s tauntaun. As you can tell, I had some fun with the pictures removing its arm for Luke to slice off.
All in all, a great set. It provides a nice addition to anyone collecting the classic Star Wars film sets, and especially for the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back.
Rating: 5 / 5 Stars
About the Author
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has this to say about John Rabon:
John got started on the path to geekdom thanks to his brother's collection of comic books and Star Wars toys but was cemented into the geek class forever when LeVar Burton took Reading Rainbow viewers on a backstage tour of Star Trek: The Next Generation. A love of Monty Python soon followed, and it wasn't long before he was starting to collect his own comics. The rest, as they say, is history. But really, who are they to say something?
Since discovering the BBC some years ago, John has become an obsessive Anglophile. In fact, he even likes the food they serve over there! As such, some of his favourite programmes include: Doctor Who, Primeval, Coupling, QI, The Mighty Boosh, The IT Crowd, and Shaun the Sheep.
Upon choosing a university, John enrolled in the University of South Carolina, which was nice enough to give him a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Master's in Teaching. Feeling that he hadn't been put through enough academic torment with student teaching, John decided to enroll in law school at Campbell University.
Hobbies, when he can find time for them, include: writing, video games, reading, and wasting time in the pub.