Review: 75311 Imperial Armoured Marauder
Posted by CapnRex101,
The menacing Trexler Armoured Marauder was introduced during The Mandalorian, combining heavy armour and weapons. This vehicle shares various similarities with the prominent Imperial Troop Transport, assuring uniformity within the formidable Imperial military.
Numerous functions distinguish 75311 Imperial Armoured Marauder from comparable models, especially taking the scale into consideration. Furthermore, the vehicle appears exceptionally accurate to the source material and provides excellent play value which is important, supported by an impressive collection of minifigures.
Minifigures
Greef Karga previously appeared in 75292 The Razor Crest but this minifigure is based upon his appearance during season two of The Mandalorian. This head accordingly features thicker facial hair, although only one expression is provided. Nevertheless, the design looks wonderful and extensive detail continues across the torso and legs.
These ornate robes correspond with Karga's updated appearance, including golden fasteners on both shoulders with extensive detail across the waistcoat. The asymmetry works neatly too, reflecting Greef Karga's propensity for action. This minifigure includes a standard blaster pistol rather than his previous twin pistols, which matches the second season.
Moff Gideon dispatches numerous soldiers to recover Grogu on Tython, including an Artillery Stormtrooper. These ordnance specialists are distinguished by yellow highlights which adorn their armour and the minifigure captures such details beautifully, particularly across the helmet where brilliant detail appears. Unfortunately, the printing on my helmet is slightly off-centre.
Yellow accents continue across this minifigure and the unique yellow pauldron looks fantastic. Decorated arms would have been superb, although I think the Stormtrooper seems appealing without them. Some explosive shells are printed on his back, corresponding with the onscreen character but appearing somewhat strange without any depth.
Fortunately, a separate backpack is provided too, closely resembling the classic Sandtrooper survival backpack. White lightsaber hilts represent bombs while this mortar appears authentic, despite its simple construction. The firing arc may be adjusted as the base plate and bipod are both articulated, reflecting the original weapon.
Two standard Stormtroopers are also provided. Their dual-moulded helmets have certainly proven controversial but they are exceptionally detailed, including numerous vents and other accents. Strangely, the dark bluish grey highlights present on the reverse of the Stormtrooper helmets are missing from the Artillery Stormtrooper's helmet, as demonstrated above.
While the helmets were significantly altered during 2019, this armour has otherwise remained consistent since 2014. The detailing across the belly section appears particularly intricate and the thermal detonator on the back looks perfect, as always. The decoration on the legs seems reasonable too, although it terminates rather abruptly below the knees.
Various heads have appeared beneath Stormtrooper helmets since 2020, replacing the Clone Trooper designs which were used previously. Remarkably, two brand new heads are available here and these look magnificent, particularly because the female Stormtrooper seems suitably mean! Matching other troopers, both minifigures are equipped with blaster rifles.
The Completed Model
Heavy armour and weaponry dominates the powerful Trexler 906 Armoured Marauder, which appears impressive in LEGO form. The model measures 20cm in length and captures superb shaping, when compared with the original vehicle. Moreover, the exterior seems appropriately rugged, combining light and dark bluish grey elements to tremendous effect.
Unusually, the Trexler Marauder lacks windows around the cockpit, instead featuring narrow gaps where the driver can view their surroundings. That interesting feature is replicated here, while stud shooters depict the forward laser cannons visible onscreen. However, my favourite details are undoubtedly the 2x2 angled corner tiles fixed on each side, since identical shapes appear on the actual transport.
The interior is easily accessible by opening the front and roof panels, revealing the single seat inside. The printed control console is cleverly connected to the front panel and this component remains fairly uncommon, only appearing in five earlier sets. The design looks splendid though and I love how easily the driving minifigure can be placed inside.
Characters board the vehicle through doors on either side during The Mandalorian and those doors are included here. These open in two halves which reflects the source material and the space between them can accommodate another seated minifigure. This is welcome, although weapons storage is lacking and some clips would have been appreciated here.
Another hatch appears on the roof, although this example is cosmetic rather than functional. Nevertheless, there is sufficient space to stand a minifigure here when the hatch is open, as though commanding the transport. An important 1x2 plate with side rail is situated inside this hatch, preventing the lid from closing too far.
Opening the panel behind that hatch reveals even more space for minifigures, with two more seats! This section is relatively inaccessible when compared with those towards the front, but placing minifigures inside remains easy enough. Nevertheless, some method of removing this whole internal seating area would have been beneficial, in my opinion.
The protruding sections on both flanks closely resemble the onscreen vehicle and I love how these are exploited, accommodating two decorated crates. That element was introduced with 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina and features Aurebesh text which reads 'CARGO'. Moreover, laser cannons are positioned beside these storage boxes, rotating freely on 2x2 turntables which is sometimes irritating.
Each lateral laser cannon should incorporate twin barrels, although the single barrel features excellent texture. The dorsal turret instead includes stud shooters which are integrated neatly and the rear viewports look great, matching those at the front. Once again, the combination of light bluish grey and dark bluish grey pieces is appealing, with trans-light blue engines around them.
Rotating the external laser cannons also turns the control station underneath, since they are connected using a trans-clear 5x4x2 wall panel. The function is notably simple but ingenious, although this turret cannot rotate all the way around to prevent minifigures becoming trapped inside. However, detaching the stopper from beneath the turret removes any restriction.
Overall
Appearance, functionality and minifigures are the most important considerations for any Star Wars model, from my perspective. 75311 Imperial Armoured Marauder definitely satisfies the three factors, particularly with respect to the functions which are absolutely packed within this unassuming vehicle! Numerous seats are provided for minifigures and the rotating turrets are enjoyable too.
Furthermore, the minifigure selection is satisfying. Greef Karga and the Artillery Stormtrooper are exclusively available here, while the standard Stormtroopers are helpful for populating the transport. Of course, the Mythrol would have been another fantastic inclusion, but I think these four minifigures are sufficient, given the reasonable price of £34.99 or $39.99. I would certainly recommend this addition to the Imperial army.
This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review represents an expression of my own opinions.
Our reviews of the other Star Wars summer sets are available here:
- Review: 75310 Duel on Mandalore
- Review: 75312 Boba Fett's Starship
- Review: 75314 The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle
- Review: 75315 Imperial Light Cruiser
- Review: 75316 Mandalorian Starfighter
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66 comments on this article
I would have preferred one Imperial ground pilot for the tank but this is sufficient, can we pack the mortar without problems?
Awesome! I plan to buy two and turn them into Classic Space models!
An all round great set, top of my summer list
This is such a gray box. Boring!
This is such an amazing gray box with so many seats and hatches and widgets you could hardly fit more if you tried. Awesome!
Easily the best value set of the summer releases.
Odd that this includes infantry troopers, given that the Marauder in the TV show was used as an escape vehicle chased by Scouts on speeder bikes & then TIE fighters. However, looks like a great set. Tempted to get a couple.
Just remember that this has more interior and minifigs than the $69.99 Night Buzzard.
This looks wonderful. Now all we need is a Morak Juggernaut with the rest of the supporting characters. I would love a Migs Mayfield (RIP) and an alternate Fennec without the helmet.
Thanks for reviewing this!
I now know exactly what I needed to decide whether or not I want this set...
*adds to Wanted List* :D
Regards,
Mitch
Might pick up multiples of this set as it sees discounts in the future!
More play features than 75315, not sure if that's impressive or sad -- maybe both.
I'd buy this for sure if I wasn't boycotting those ugly new Stormtrooper helmets . . .
This model from the show is alright, but what Lego Star Wars fans need is just a box of Stormtroopers. The plain old generic kind. That way we can build the Imperial army the Star Wars Lego deserves…
Waiting to see how long before someone converts this into a reasonable sized Imperial troop transport to make up for the rather too small 75078.
Can I just ask because I've been wondering: why are all the new Star Wars sets being reviewed now when they are releasing the 1st of August?
@Slithus_Venom said:
"I'd buy this for sure if I wasn't boycotting those ugly new Stormtrooper helmets . . ."
You could just buy it and switch out the figures. Your boycott doesn’t appear to be accomplishing much. I have a few of the new troopers, and they look better than in the pictures IMO. Plus, it’s not like it’d break the bank to buy an extra two stormtroopers on BrickLink or swap some out from your collection.
Pretty cool set I would probably get if not for the cute Stormtrooper helmets. I just cant justify the price for the build and a kinda boring Greef Carga. 95% of my Stormtrooper army is the previous version, so unfortunately, these three would be wasted minifigs. Come on Lego, you gotta switch back and I think many other fans would agree.
@Wasthereonce said:
"Can I just ask because I've been wondering: why are all the new Star Wars sets being reviewed now when they are releasing the 1st of August?"
The same reason that film reviews go out a few months/weeks earlier than the release date. It’s to create publicity.
The side cannons should've been on 2x2 jumpers to prevent them from spinning around on their own. And the rear turret should've had the ability to move up and down. But other than that this thing is nearly perfect. Lots of functionality for such a medium small model.
This actually looks pretty great despite looking kind of shabby in the official images, and the UK price is better than I expected. This is a pretty positive review, and I was already considering this set but now it's less of a maybe an more of a probably.
$40? Argh. I can buy a female head on Bricklink and put it on a Stormtrooper for way less.
$40 for 478 pieces with 4 minifigures? For better or worse, that is decent value for a LEGO set in 2021, much less a licensed/Star Wars set. The $40 City sets from 2021 have fewer pieces and/or minifigures. And animals and big molds, etc. But still.
@Slithus_Venom said:
"I'd buy this for sure if I wasn't boycotting those ugly new Stormtrooper helmets . . ."
I totally get that. I’m not quite willing to do that myself, as it would mean missing out on a lot of otherwise-great sets (especially if I extended it from stormtroopers to all sorts of uniformed troops that get endlessly, needlessly redesigned), but do I ever wish they’d just settle on one consistent design for each sort of uniformed troop and stick with it. I want to be able to combine stormtroopers, Rebel pilots, etc. from sets I buy today with those from sets I bought ten years ago and have them look like they match.
As for the rest, the price is higher than I’d like, but I can’t deny it appears a very nicely-built set with plenty of cool play functionality.
Now that's a great set. One that clearly proves that looks can be deceiving. From the outside I would never have guessed that this has so many functions packed into it.
Cool, I only wished to have the blue guy as a Minifig in the set - he was so excited about this vehicle!
Ugh. I want all of the new Mando, AND CW season seven sets. But I can’t afford more than like, two.
It’s a big grey rectangle! And yet this is doing it for me. Maybe it’s because I made stuff like that (approximately) as a kid. With big gun turrets and hatches and stuff. It’s cool and boring at the same time!
@Darth_TNT said:
"It’s cool and boring at the same time! "
My feelings exactly. I'd love that mortar trooper, and the vehicle's functionality is great, but I think I'm going to pass on this set in the end. Maybe bricklink the artillery dude at some point.
This really shows how disgustingly bad the 75284 is, though.
So many play features…. So much interior space….. I need it!
I love that it's based on an old Kenner set.
Chin up, Happy. Don't feel bad about me. I got my hand back, see?
@Mikael_Sol said:
"I love that it's based on an old Kenner set."
By way of first the animated version in Rebels, then the live action version in Mandalorian S1, and then this armed version in S2. Quite the journey for a simple Box That Holds Stormtroopers from 1979.
@TomKazutara said:
"I feel offended by the words: Imperial, Marauder, and Stormtrooper.
Please Disney do something about it."
@ALEGOMan said:
"i knew they would never make that alien, probably something offensive knowing disney/lego now"
Look, it's your own choice if you want to act like fools, but couldn't you do it somewhere else?
Thanks for the review. I think I will have to buy a few of these sets to improve the might of my Imperial army. Beware rebel scums! :-)
If this set was £25 I think I'd be more inclined to get it. The inclusion of a female stormtrooper is an excellent choice by LEGO and I hope such things continue going forward - it's a minor thing but fits perfectly with the franchise.
Absolutely love this design. Finally a proper troop transport with a cockpit, seating, doors etc. The turrent is also unusually functional for a Star Wars set.
It's rare to see a Star Wars set this size that goes beyond the standard 'stud shooters and an opening cockpit are the action features' approach. Or one that has the interior taken up with technic for making it indestructable for no reason for its size.
Ooh, now I’m tempted.
They should have included the mortar and artillery stormtrooper with Boba Fett’s starship, and provided a scout trooper on white speeder bike here.
And also the Mythrol! He’s still absent.
Aww man 2 stormtroopers with a special stormtrooper and some dude from the Mando plus a huge speeder bristling with weapons for only $40...
I may need to make a run at this one.
Lego: No use of Slave I despite that being the name of the ship. Also STRICTLY no military stuff.
Also Lego: includes very realistic looking mortar
Simply love this! Lots of interior (seating for 5 minifigs!), openable doors/hatches just about everywhere, not to mention the narrow gaps instead of windows - saw a YouTube review with the crew seated inside, it looks so great to see them through those gaps, especially the one at the back when the turret/seat is rotated!
Nice set, I’ll buy it for the minifigs. The vehicle is ok for play value, but not a great display piece.
Amazing amount of space for such a small vehicle!
Ah...I can totally remember first time I saw this...made by Kenner...:).
Seriously, Kenner built (non-canon/'Extended Universe') the original version of this, and it was cool; knocked-down two birds w/one stone: a larger 'troop-transport', and a 'real' explanation of what happened with the Jawas (Kenobi's revised statement: "Only Stormtroopers are that accurate...but they had something...'heavy' to do the damage...").
@Brickchap said:
"Lego: No use of Slave I despite that being the name of the ship. Also STRICTLY no military stuff.
Also Lego: includes very realistic looking mortar"
It's a spud launcher, fires harmless spuds at people :)
@Darth_TNT said:
"It’s a big grey rectangle! And yet this is doing it for me. Maybe it’s because I made stuff like that (approximately) as a kid. With big gun turrets and hatches and stuff. It’s cool and boring at the same time! "
This captures my thoughts on this far better than I could. It reminds me of that Kenner Imperial Troop Transport brick of a vehicle. This set is dull and ugly, but it feels authentic because I suppose a lot of the Empire's stuff is dull, ugly and functional.
Having some diverse Stormtroopers under the helmets is a very spicy and cool decision. It immediately makes them much more interesting and gives them so much more personality and play possibilities than 3 x angry clone.
@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
"Easily the best value set of the summer releases.
Odd that this includes infantry troopers, given that the Marauder in the TV show was used as an escape vehicle chased by Scouts on speeder bikes & then TIE fighters. However, looks like a great set. Tempted to get a couple."
It does seem like they were going for a middle ground between the chase scene of The Siege (with Greef and the Marauder) and the fight scene of The Tragedy (with the infantry and artillery)
it seems like every new star wars ship design is either a greeble-laden grey box or a recolored original trilogy ship.
what happened to all of the cool sleek designs from the prequels?
why can't we get more stuff like that?
why does lego barely ever make prequel stuff?
A simple - small - set at first glance, but after this review, i think it's just brilliant, meaning it has no flaws at all (imo) with lots of functions and plenty of space for troopers.
Although not a mandalorian-fan (yet), i just might put this set on my wishlist. And it's not that expensive, right.
@Brickalili said:
" @DoonsterBuildsLego said:
"Easily the best value set of the summer releases.
Odd that this includes infantry troopers, given that the Marauder in the TV show was used as an escape vehicle chased by Scouts on speeder bikes & then TIE fighters. However, looks like a great set. Tempted to get a couple."
It does seem like they were going for a middle ground between the chase scene of The Siege (with Greef and the Marauder) and the fight scene of The Tragedy (with the infantry and artillery)"
One of the transports from Chapter 14: “The Tragedy” would make a really cool set. As would a battle pack with four Darktroopers, and the stone from Typhon.
I’m glad they didn’t try to include imperial speeders in this set, because it would have ended up being a 50-60 dollar set. I mean, look at the Bad Batch Shuttle.
At least the base detailing on these figures are the same as the previous iteration, I'll be able to Bricklink new helmets for them. I'm a sucker for new Stormtrooper variants but I'm just still not a fan of those new helmets. The Artillery Stormtrooper is kind of ruined for me because it uses that new helmet mold.
As for the Marauder, I've already built both a custom Marauder and Imperial Troop Transport, which are significantly larger and can hold more troops inside, which I'll be sticking with for display purposes. I'll probably be picking this set up at some point for those figures though. The value here is decent at MSRP
While the transporter is pretty nice, this feels like a way to pump up the price of a glorified battlepack.
At first, I was like "Wow, this is a neat APC-like thing for an army builder pack" and then I saw the $40 price tag. The LSW tax is real. It feels like a $30 set- perhaps inflation is to blame.
@ToaofPlastic said:
"it seems like every new star wars ship design is either a greeble-laden grey box or a recolored original trilogy ship.
what happened to all of the cool sleek designs from the prequels?
why can't we get more stuff like that?
why does lego barely ever make prequel stuff?"
LOL if you wanna feel really depressed, go watch Lego store videos from like 2010 or so. Those shelves, filled with Venators, Gunships, ARC 170s, Droid Tri Fighters, AT TEs, and Hyena Droid Bombers. Now, the shelves are dusty and bare, dented boxes of Lukes Landspeeders lay in piles of debris. Undersized, remade X Wings and Tie Fighters collect dust in the corners of shelves. Battle Packs are nowhere to be found. Prices are higher than the stack of unwanted First Order AT STs. Ok maybe its not that bad... or is it?
@CopperTablet said:
"At first, I was like "Wow, this is a neat APC-like thing for an army builder pack" and then I saw the $40 price tag. The LSW tax is real. It feels like a $30 set- perhaps inflation is to blame."
I don't intend to come across as a LEGO apologist, but I don't totally understand this complaint.
Ninjago is an in-house theme, ie, one with no Star Wars tax or any other license fees. At least two Ninjago sets are available right now at the $40 price point. One set has 449 pieces and 4 minifigures. The other has 506 pieces and 4 minifigures. Versus this Star Wars set that has 478 pieces and 4 minifigures. That falls right in between the two Ninjago sets from a price-per-piece and minifig metric. The models look to be about the same size, although the Ninjago sets do include small side builds.
According to the Brickset database, the first Star Wars set to be priced at $40 was 8010 Darth Vader from 2002. It was a Technic set with 391 pieces. 10026 Special Edition Naboo Starfighter from that same year was $40 for 187 pieces. Neither set came with minifigures. 7259 Arc-170 Fighter from 2005 had 396 pieces and 4 minifigures for $40. 7658 Y-Wing Fighter from 2007 had 454 pieces and 2 minifigures for $40.
That all makes me feel better about spending $40 on this particular set.
@gorf43 said:
" @ToaofPlastic said:
"it seems like every new star wars ship design is either a greeble-laden grey box or a recolored original trilogy ship.
what happened to all of the cool sleek designs from the prequels?
why can't we get more stuff like that?
why does lego barely ever make prequel stuff?"
LOL if you wanna feel really depressed, go watch Lego store videos from like 2010 or so. Those shelves, filled with Venators, Gunships, ARC 170s, Droid Tri Fighters, AT TEs, and Hyena Droid Bombers. Now, the shelves are dusty and bare, dented boxes of Lukes Landspeeders lay in piles of debris. Undersized, remade X Wings and Tie Fighters collect dust in the corners of shelves. Battle Packs are nowhere to be found. Prices are higher than the stack of unwanted First Order AT STs. Ok maybe its not that bad... or is it? "
It’s not that bad. Your bias towards the era you grew up in is just very strong. The X-Wings and RIE fighters aren’t “undersized”, they’re scaled down so that they’re toys. And I am so tired of hearing about the landspeeders ad nauseum. It’s an evergreen toy: recognizable and simple, associated with popular characters. It’s easy to make a cheap set with several essential figures out of the landspeeder. The reason there are so many redesigns of the set are to help bring it up to date every few years so that it doesn’t feel inelegant next to the new sets.
I’m not so sure that I’m impressed with this set. The vehicle and the chase is probably the least important part of the episode. Also, clearly this vehicle is designed for carrying stormtroopers, yet not a single stormtrooper steps foot inside of it during this episode. While this was a very important episode as it reveals what the Empire was up to, a location based set would have been more appropriate and a lot more fun, especially with a hidden hologram of Dr. Pershing.
I recognize that this is incredible value on a price per piece basis, but it seems a very steep price for such an inconsequential vehicle that only gets used once to escape with. I may still get this set, especially if I can get it cheaper, but with what appears to be the most exciting wave of sets in a long time, this one is at the bottom of my want list. Nothing against Greef, it would be cool to get this version of him, but I already have the original.
I'm hopefully getting 2
@CapnRex101 - I Noticed a lot of bricks and colors where discontinued in 2004 and 2005. Why is that?
@iwybs said:
"This is such a gray box. Boring!
This is such an amazing gray box with so many seats and hatches and widgets you could hardly fit more if you tried. Awesome!"
I agree.
@ambr said:
"Waiting to see how long before someone converts this into a reasonable sized Imperial troop transport to make up for the rather too small 75078. "
That was a BATTLE pack. The minifigs are the important part.
@Swurves13 said:
" @ambr said:
"Waiting to see how long before someone converts this into a reasonable sized Imperial troop transport to make up for the rather too small 75078. "
That was a BATTLE pack. The minifigs are the important part."
I think they did a great job making the ITT small enough to be in a battle pack, but still recognizable.
@560heliport said:
" @Swurves13 said:
" @ambr said:
"Waiting to see how long before someone converts this into a reasonable sized Imperial troop transport to make up for the rather too small 75078 . "
That was a BATTLE pack. The minifigs are the important part."
I think they did a great job making the ITT small enough to be in a battle pack, but still recognizable."
Yes, that is true, BUT I was just saying that battle packs are focused on the minifigs.
I am a HUGE fan of Rebels so I would be happy for somebody to make a larger version of the ITT.
@CopperTablet said:
"At first, I was like "Wow, this is a neat APC-like thing for an army builder pack" and then I saw the $40 price tag. The LSW tax is real. It feels like a $30 set- perhaps inflation is to blame."
It contains 478 pieces for 40$? That's actually a great deal!
Really nice set. Though I wish it could have been another 501st super battle pack set as I intend to buy a few for army building - as I will now have multiple Greef's.
@ambr said:
"Waiting to see how long before someone converts this into a reasonable sized Imperial troop transport to make up for the rather too small 75078. "
While I agree that it was too small, I rather like the 75078. I modded mine onto the back of my 75152. It was a simple modification to combine the two but it looks really cool.
Minifigs are cool, but that build is so good