Review: 75054 AT-AT
Posted by CapnRex101,
There are few more iconic vehicles than the AT-AT, and it is therefore not at all surprising that LEGO have released yet another version of this mammoth vehicle. 75054 is the second largest of the Summer wave of LEGO Star Wars sets, priced at £109.99 or $109.99 and containing 1138-pieces. When images of this set initially emerged, I and many others were disappointed to see that it looked very similar to the 2010 edition of the vehicle (8129). However, having now built the model, I can assure you that this is not the case at all, as you will see from the comparison photos towards the end of the review.
Box and Contents
The box for this set is significantly smaller than that of 75055 Imperial Star Destroyer, and displays the AT-AT marching across the desolate plains of Hoth. General Veers looks a little as though he is trying to keep up with his troops to me, and you can even see a Snowtrooper who seems to have been thrown up into the air by an explosion!
On the back of the box there are various shots of the AT-AT with the cockpit and side panels opened up, along with a few images of some of the features. As ever, some blueprint style photos are also included which are rather nice, and you can see the extent to which the legs of this monstrous vehicle can move.
Inside there are seven numbered bags and two instruction manuals, which are packed in a cardboard backed bag with a poster. You will be pleased to hear that this set includes no stickers! The poster shows the AT-AT in battle against 75049 Snowspeeder on one side, and a gallery of all sixty-six Minifigures released this year on the other. I rather like these posters and although I have nowhere to display them, they are spectacular enough to be worthy of showing off in my opinion.
Minifigures
Five Minifigures are included, all of which are brand new. The first of these is General Veers, who has appeared in three of the four AT-ATs released so far. This is the first time this helmet piece has appeared in sand blue, although the same mould has been used on each version of this character. His head is also new, featuring some wrinkles, a headset and a surly expression. The torso design is a little more detailed than usual with rank indicators denoting Veers as a general and a sand blue breastplate which is printed on the front and back. He also wears a pair of black gloves and has plain dark bluish grey legs. This is my favourite version of the ruthless General Veers released to date.
Unsurprisingly the AT-AT Driver has featured in every AT-AT model. Once again this is undoubtedly my favourite version of the character as it is far more detailed than any which have gone before, and I think the new sand blue and grey colour scheme is the most accurate yet. His helmet uses the mould introduced in 2010, although this time it is cast in grey rather than white. The printing looks to be identical to the older Minifigures and the face is that of a Clone Trooper. The torso is printed with a sand blue and grey flight suit, with breathing tubes printed on the front and back. This design is continued on his legs and the AT-AT Driver carries a simple blaster pistol.
The third Minifigure is a Snowtrooper Commander, who appears in the film standing behind General Veers in the AT-AT's cockpit. The helmet piece is brand new and is more accurate than the one which has been around for the last eleven years. The holes in the helmet, which must be filled with a black head inside, have now been dropped in favour of a printed design, so a Clone Trooper face can be used underneath. The torso features the standard Snowtrooper armour with the addition of some rank indicators on his left breast and a slightly simplified print on his chest. It is also printed on the back with a continuation of the same design and a thermal detonator. He wears the same fabric kama as the ARC Trooper from 9488 Elite Clone Trooper and Commando Droid Battle Pack, but this time in white. His legs are plain white and he is equipped with a standard blaster.
There are two Snowtrooper Minifigures included, and these are my favourite of the entire Summer selection. Much of their design is the same as that of their commander, including their helmet and head, but these troopers wear a backpack. This is attached using a grey neck bracket which is well hidden beneath his helmet and it is simply constructed using a 1x1 plate with side ring and a printed 1x1 tile. The design captures these backpacks perfectly in my opinion, and they look to be just the right size. His torso varies only very slightly with the addition of some red buttons on his armour and a pair of light bluish grey hands rather than the white of the officer. His back printing is also very slightly different as the shirt beneath his armour is not wrinkled. The kama is the same and his legs only vary for the addition of grey hips rather than white. These Snowtroopers too are armed with a blaster each.
The Build
Every model of the AT-AT suffers from the same inevitable problem that there is a considerable amount of repetition involved in construction. Building the four identical legs and feet, which occupy two of the seven bags, is a bit of a chore, but it hardly seems fair to penalise the set for this as it is an inevitability in a model of an AT-AT.
Other than that I found the build entertaining as there is an enjoyable mixture of Technic and System construction, as well as some pretty smart techniques which are used. You begin with the main body of the AT-AT and then move on to the legs before finishing it off with constructing the head and adding the armour plating. For me the most notable technique used was how the ankle is built as it yields an incredibly accurate result, using a 1x3 tile placed over a Technic beam. This allows the tile to be raised about a quarter of a plate-width above the rest of the ankle section!
The entirety of each leg is built three studs wide which is the perfect scale I think and these use a total of eight 3x4 modified tiles, which first appeared as Minifigure stands, in light bluish grey! This piece has only appeared in one other set, 21108 Ghostbusters Ecto-1, and there was only one of it there, so having eight of them included makes this a highly desirable set if you are looking for plenty of these useful pieces.
Lastly I would like to comment on how nicely the armour plating is constructed as it is almost seamless. This is a real lesson in LEGO geometry and there is definitely something to be learnt from this excellent example of what can be achieved using a few hinges.
The Completed Model
This is my favourite of the four AT-ATs of this size by an enormous margin. It is by far the most accurate, the most fun and it includes the best Minifigures in my opinion. The legs have the widest range of motion yet seen on at AT-AT as they can now be moved inwards towards the centre of the model more than they could before. This is due to a clever bit of design since the details underneath have been recessed to make way for the legs. The joints use the same ratchet pieces as ever, but the rather unsightly inside of each leg is concealed fairly well using 4x4 dishes and some SNOT techniques which work nicely.
The design of the heavily armoured troop bay is marvelous, featuring some greebling at the back and subtle dark bluish grey detailing which breaks up the otherwise light bluish grey model very well. The central panel opens as on previous AT-AT models, but on this occasion it opens from the top rather than half-way down which is both sturdier and allows for easier access! There is not a huge amount of space for troops in here, but you can easily store the three included. Floor panelling is absent in the middle as a result of a play feature being included.
This is a curious little inclusion if you ask me, but a fun one nevertheless. A cleverly hidden Technic piece can be pulled from the back of the model to release a hatch on the belly of this behemoth. I am not quite sure what the purpose of this is, as although I originally thought it was to recreate the scene where Luke hurls a detonator into one of the AT-ATs, the box shows a Snowtrooper falling through it like a trapdoor. Equally, it might be how the Snowtroopers are deployed from the AT-AT and you could imagine that they descend on lines as in the film. Whatever your use for this function, it is a bit of fun and is fairly unobtrusive, so I quite like it.
The head is very poseable, with two points of articulation around the neck. It cannot move up and down but droops a little anyway due to its weight. On the outside the design looks to be fairly accurate, featuring light blaster cannons on either side of the head (formed as ever using a shovel piece) and the heavy chin guns which cause such devastation in the movie. A pair of the new spring loaded missiles are found under here and they are well hidden, so much like the opening hatch I am happy to see this feature included. They shoot at least a metre and do not take too much away from the aesthetics of the vehicle. If you did not like them, it would be easy to remove them anyway, so you have that option.
Inside the head there is space for two Minifigures sitting one behind the other and small printed control panel which is nice to see included, although it is not a new or specialised piece. The head on many AT-AT models has been a sticking point since the panels often do not sit flush with one another. I think this one is the best yet as not only do they tessellate quite effectively but this is also a very durable design, unlike others I might mention (4483).
Many of you will already own an AT-AT model and the easiest way to decide whether or not you want to buy this set is by looking at a comparison. obi_g has very kindly lent me 4483 AT-AT and 8129 AT-AT Walker so I can show you a few shots of this set beside those two and my own 10178 Motorized Walking AT-AT.
As you can see, 75054 only just falls short of the size of 4483, and it far surpasses the other two which are photographed above in order of their release date going from left to right. Only 8129 and this set are accurate to the shape of the vehicle in the film, but the longer legs on 75054 are superior in my opinion, and I would therefore argue that this is the most accurate AT-AT ever produced.
Overall
It is probably clear by now that I absolutely love this set. It is large enough to feel like the intimidating giant which marches inexorably across the plains of Hoth, while also feeling dense with parts and durable. The features are all a lot of fun and I think the Minifigures are superb.
I really only have one complaint, and that regards the price. £109.99 feels like quite lot of money for something which is relatively insubstantial since the main body is only fairly small, and the inclusion of only five Minifigures makes the lack of value a little more acutely felt. If two more Snowtroopers were to be added I would have been satisfied, but two and a commander feels a little light for my taste.
On sale, this set really is a must have, and even at full price I would highly recommend it if you are particularly interested in the AT-AT or the Battle of Hoth. This is by far my favourite of the four models released, and although it looks very similar to the other sets, it is superior in almost every way. At the very least I suggest purchasing a couple of Snowtroopers as they are fantastic, probably my favourite Minifigures of this entire wave!
This will probably be my last review of the Summer Star Wars wave, so I hope you have enjoyed them. Roll on Winter wave!
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24 comments on this article
Thank you very much for your great and detailed review. I already own the AT-AT and love it too.
Good review thanks, looks a good model. That said I do love my motorized AT-AT, so would have to be really excellent to sway me.
I wasn't going to bother with this set as I too have the motorised one, but I can't resist now... Much better than the last set in terms of design and minifigs - why did the last set come with Han Solo?! Wasn't he faffing about in Echo Base during the battle?!!
Good job CapnRex, thanks for the summer-wave reviews.
I especially appreciate the idea to compare all of the minifig-scale AT-AT sets.
Wow, that pricing is staggering. $109.99 is currently £67.63. LEGO is charging a premium of £42.36 for the privilege of buying it in the UK!
Thanks for the review. I definitely want to get this. I planned on bricklinking 2010 (I actually liked that version), but since this is coming out, this will be cheaper and I like the looks better.
I think the minifigures look great, and I usually collect them. But in this case, I'm okay with the previous versions from that snowtrooper battle pack a few years ago and would prefer just to get the set..if I can find a cheap enough price.
The motorized walking one is by far the most awesome AT-AT because it is motorized. And it walks. What more need be said?
But if you missed that one, this seems pretty nice.
^^^ And €120 is not very good, either. Especially here in Slovakia, where the mediocre salary is just something over €800...
But, that is not the problem just with this set... :-/
Great review Cap'n, I especially appreciate how thoroughly and well you've compared it to previous versions. I was one of the this-looks-like-8129 crowd but I had noticed a few ways it's different, you've convinced me. My only gripe is that if I got rid of my 8129 for this I'd lose a very nice little radar gun.
Saying that, if anyone fancies offering me something for my complete-with-box 8129 maybe I would consider upgrading. ;)
I've just noticed too, the doors on the main body and the flaps underneath them were back to front in the initial publicity photos! I thought they must have been.
I've never quite understood the criticism about repetition in LEGO builds. I understand that it isn't the most exciting part of a build, but many things in life (especially vehicles) have some sort of symmetry to them, so repetition kind of comes with the territory, so to speak.
These are $99.99 right now at Target website in USA
Excellent use of the word "tessellate" in this review :)
Lego is making some amaizing and solid sets, but after Disney bought SW they are charging a premium for these large sets, and they could just have justified the price with a few more minifigures like Snow Troopers in this case (and in the case of te Republic Gunship a few more Clone troopers for the turrets).
I haven't gotten another AT-AT ever since I received two motorized ones for my birthday so very long ago, but this review has made me seriously consider buying the 2014 one... Great job!
The fabric kama gives the snowtroopers thunder thighs. Yet again the interior of these large vehicles is on the bland side but otherwise looks good.
Good review! It's always great to see a Star Wars set that surpasses the previous versions in so many ways. I know it would infuriate me if I were still collecting Star Wars sets to have my collection rendered obsolete every four or five years, but at the same time I think that improvements like this really do help justify the re-release cycle.
The only AT-AT I ever owned was 4483, because I haven't collected Star Wars sets in a long time.
I own it and i am very pleased. Guys grab it, don't think about it, it's awesome (eeeeeeverything is awesooooome)
The minifigs are great and the vehicle the most accurate yet.
I paid 130euros after a great discount (retail price 170euros in Greece), but consider them money well spent
In the early pictures I thought the new Snowtroopers looked ridiculous, overly-detailed and ill-fitting of LEGO but seeing them in the flesh and here, they look marvelous and a worthy update. The Commander feels kind of useless compared to the two generic ones. Might've just had 4 regular Snowtroops.
If I had $109 to spare, you'd have sold me on this set honestly. I've never had an AT-At but it looks great.
Still barely an improvement on the first edition. I understand why lego do this though.
Looks lke better figures, but not the set. The lack of printed details on the front and the dishes over the joints make it look cheaper than the original.
Picked this up while on summer hols in the USA for $109+VIP, and built it last night. Took about 3 hours, including a stop to eat a chicken pie.
Looks OK, but I guess any walker type model lacks the play value of a set that a kid can wheel along or whoosh through the air.
It could also do with being a couple of studs wider, for stability. Cleaner knocked it down behind the back of a bookcase already...
@austin3than: I saw this in Target yesterday for the full $110. Weird.
Whoa. You have made this sound a lot better than any other description of this set, that's for sure! I don't like that they're still using that helmet for the pilot, as it exposes part of the head, and the new Snowtroopers seem "not LEGO enough" for me. But still, it goes quite nicely with the Snowspeeder.
I have the 2010 version but I might still buy this mostly because of the minifigures but also because of its bigger size.