When this set came out I was very intrigued by it, but how could I ever purchase this when it would be cheaper to purchase an actual PAC-MAN game. Sure, I have the game on the NES and Game Boy, and I can use my NES Advantage so I have a joystick. But the real issue is that the game to be played properly should be on a vertically oriented screen.

So I decided that I loved this set mainly because I loved how it looked. However, it'd be a cheaper or comparable to get an Arcade 1UP version of the game instead. Sadly the countercade version has been discontinued, and the 3/4 size cabinets really take up a lot of space. So I started searching eBay and managed to get a brand new countercade for $150 shortly after this set was announced. I'd have to say it's probably the best thing I've ever purchased, at least from a retro gaming perspective.

But now several months later my birthday is coming up and really this is the one set that I really want. Not to mention the countercade is mounted on a wall in my basement outside my office. My office is where I display not just all my Lego, but also my retro gaming collection. This (along with my Lego NES) is perfect for the room.

Well, now I have it, and once more I couldn't be happier with my purchase. My kids too absolutely love it, just as much as they love the Arcade 1UP. So now that you have some background, let's review the actual set.

Packaging

The packaging looks great but I especially like the instructions. Instead of a picture of the set, they feature pixel art. They also come packed in a cardboard envelope so they stay protected.

Parts

The set of course features a lot of yellow and black but sadly only a handful of printed parts. The three parts the make up the marquee are printed, as are handful 1x1 round tiles that feature Pac-Man, the ghosts, and cherries. Since you get 1 extra of each you will have 3 of each ghost, 3 cherries, and 5 Pac-Man tiles. Beyond that, the large ghost eyes for the mini build are printed. This means that you get a boatload of stickers including some very large ones that can be quite difficult to place perfectly. This is certainly a bit of a disappointment given the price of the set.

Aside from that, you do get quite a few interesting parts. You get two very large Technic boards that make up the screen. A lot of large tiles (several of which get stickers), a variety of sloped bricks as well as a good amount of large bricks. However, you also get tons of small Technic bricks and lots of tread pieces, including several with sticks that hold the ghosts and Pac-Man that move around the screen.

The Build

The build itself is quite interesting. The first two bags are for the mini-build of the large Pac-Man and two ghosts. It's rather interesting as it involves some simple Technic and a lot of SNOT, not to mention the base is built sideways. Perhaps the most interesting part of it is that it includes parts that need to be removed and will later be used in the cabinet. I've never seen anything like this before in Lego instructions, but the purpose of it is to keep everything straight and aligned until it is all secure.

Now these removable bricks did ultimately become problematic for me when my daughter broke this build and I had already used the removable bricks elsewhere on the cabinet. I was still able to get it fixed but it required a good amount of precision to get everything perfectly aligned.

After that you build the cabinet which is pretty straightforward and is just standard stacking of bricks for the most part. At the bottom of the front of the cabinet it is angled so you do use a few simple hinges to get it right, and you use a drop of Technic, namely a rubbery pieces to create the joystick and the button that lights up the coin slot. The sides have a little bit of SNOT, but not much. Really it is pretty simple, but it is enjoyable. This part of the build is not repetitive.

Now comes the screen which is the interesting part. As you can probably imagine it is all Technic. However it is surprisingly simple given how amazing the play feature is. Basically you have a two sets of treads, a large one for Pac- Man and two ghosts, and a smaller one for one ghost. In addition you have a cherry that dances in place and a ghost that goes back and forth in their starting position. But for the most part you are building up the walls of the board which are also the guides for the treads. It's a lot to do, but really isn't all that complex much to my surprise. You will need to create 64 dots which is definitely the most time consuming part of the build.

After that you insert the screen, finish the Technic function which is just a few gears that connect to a single axel. Finish the top of the cabinet sides, and then cover it up.

To finish the build you make the back access panel which is surprisingly thin and simple but does seem sturdy. Then you build the minifigure arcade and done.

It really is an enjoyable build as it offers a lot of variety and changes things up every bag or two. While the dots are repetitive, nothing else in the set really is.

The Model

This is why you are buying the set. Once completed it is a beautiful model that captures all the details of an original cabinet you'd find in an arcade. One of my favorite things is if you open the back, the backside of the screen looks like it could be a circuit board. Of course it's the play feature that is amazing. It's just as good and as innovative as the TV screen on the NES set. It really looks like you are playing the game.

As for the mini-build, typically I hate these. I usually feel like they are tacked on to inflate the price of the set. However, this one is different. It really looks great despite only featuring two of the ghosts. Furthermore, I love how you push in the button on the back and Pac-Man spins around to eat the ghosts who have now changed colour to blue. This is something that you really can't recreate in the cabinet itself. And I have to say, while the cabinet alone would look great, with this on top it really does look better.

Overall

I have to say that this is one of my favorite sets, and my kids also love it despite it not being a play set. The set just looks fantastic, was a lot of fun to build, and has a very cool play feature that works perfectly.

I would certainly recommend it to anyone who has a PAC-MAN cabinet, but would of course recommend getting a cabinet you can play the actual game on over the Lego set. It's of the same quality as the Lego NES set. Which one you'd prefer probably just depends on which one you feel more nostalgic for. But if you love Lego and you love PAC-MAN, then this is definitely a set you should get.

This is my third landscape set like this, I also have Hoth and the Death Star, and I'm now regretting that I didn't get Endor. I don't typically like micro builds and have 0 interest in the advent calendars, however these sets I really like as they look fantastic and create a scene. In this particular case, it is a location that has been absent from Lego sets thus far making it that much more desirable for me.

This set varies greatly from the other two I've built as it features two very big differences. First, you have the mountains rising in the background. While I realize that these are rather far away from the Lars Homestead, they give the model a sense of depth and do a wonderful job portraying the harsh landscape of Tatooine. They also greatly change the building experience. This is the first part that you build, and you are basically starting from the corner where the mountains are and spreading out along all three axis, but not filling in the in-between. These mountains make it a much more substantial base and even introduce a bit of SNOT to a model that is already being built on its side.

The next interesting part of this set is that after completing the first section, you are left with an "L" shaped model when viewed from above. The part that needs to be filled in is the homestead, and this portion is actually constructed right side up. This is a rather interesting move as previously the bases to these sets had always been built entirely on their sides. This change of direction is of course necessary in creating the sunken house. When completed it fills in the L perfectly, except for the outside edge which is a single stud wide. This edge is then built sideways again which gives the edge of the model a smooth appearance that looks great.

The last bit of the build is the flat area that holds the sand crawler. Clearly this is the least exciting part of the build. The set concludes with building the sand crawler, which does feature two printed bricks, and does a wonderful job of depicting the vehicle at such a small scale. Technically it should probably be larger, but it still towers over the "people" and I feel as if it was any bigger, it would dominate the set, much in the same way that the AT-AT dominated the Hoth set. As it is, it does an excellent job creating the scene, but allowing the homestead to be the most prominent feature.

The final result looks great. It perfectly depicts where the Star Wars story all began and is instantly recognizable as Tatooine. I really appreciate how this set doesn't just tell a single story, but incorporates pretty much the entire start of the movie. I still hope that this location will one day receive a minifigure scale set, but for now I'm very happy that I got this. It was well worth paying full price for two other sets that I really wanted. My only complaint is that I think that now I'm going to have to buy myself an Endor set. I'm really happy that Lego has been producing this line and look forward to getting many more in the future. These are easily the best GWP that I have ever received.

As a kid I absolutely loved the space shuttle and of course I always wanted to be an astronaut. Back then I had (and still have) a very large Classic Space collection. In recent years my Lego collection has been dominated by Star Wars. So when I saw this set, I had to have it. While it is quite expensive, it was just reasonably priced enough that I could justify buying it. Plus I already have the Saturn V and it needed some company. Well let's just say, this set is about as perfect as any Lego set ever gets.

The Box and Instructions

The box isn't anything too special, it looks just like all the recent boxes in the 18+ category. The instructions however are very cool. Of course they feature the bit in the front about the shuttle and the Lego designers, however what sets these instructions apart is what is in the middle. As you build certain components, the instructions will include fun facts about the component you just constructed so you learn about the shuttle as you build it. Hopefully this will be something that Lego continues to do in the 18+ range as I really appreciated it and learned quite a bit.

The Parts

The set comes with quite a few parts that I had never seen before which is always a plus. It also features a handful of bright colors to go along with the black and white. However, the most used color that gets hidden in the build is a dark green that is fairly unexciting. Of course the most exciting thing about the parts are all the silver parts used to build the Hubble Telescope.

The set does include stickers, and while the silver stickers that line the inside of the cargo bay may have been unavoidable, I feel the others could have very easily been avoided. There are two large stickers for the display plaques, which I feel should have been printed just like the Ulysses model. Then you get 4 smaller stickers, two NASA logos, and two that say Discovery. However the set features mostly printed parts, including the large flag and NASA Discovery logo on the wings. I don't quite understand why they left these few stickers in the set. Applying the silver stickers is the most time consuming, although they surprisingly aren't very hard to apply.

The Build

Building this set is incredible with every single detail utilizing different techniques to create the complex geometries of the shuttle. It includes 17 bags, with the first three being dedicated to the Hubble Telescope. Bag 1 builds the stand, while 2 and 3 build the telescope. The telescope is quite interesting to build as it is round. It is narrower than the Saturn V, so doesn't feature quite as complex a structure, but parts of it feel very similar to that build. It is small, but very enjoyable and certainly would have been worthy of being its own separate set.

Bag 4 builds the shuttle's display stand, and then it is onto the shuttle itself. You start building the bottom of the shuttle and this build gradually evolves into building the wings. It features a bit of technic for the moving parts (landing gear and wing flaps) but otherwise is entirely brick built. This part is very (accurately) thin, yet has incredible strength and is completely solid. The most interesting part of this is how it creates the smooth edges of the wings which are at very strange angles. They seem to be very poorly attached, yet become perfectly rigid when the wings are complete.

Next you build up the engines and the mechanical features of the set to the point that all these features function, yet they remain partially exposed. This is a very interesting part of the build and probably the trickiest as well. Even before the walls go up this section of the ship is very tight.

After this comes the cargo bay, which needs to be large enough to carry the satellites and also includes antennas as well as a poseable arm (although it can't bear any weight other than its own). This is probably the most straightforward part of the build and goes fairly quickly.

After this it is onto the nose which as you can probably guess requires a good amount of SNOT. As someone who builds a lot of Star Wars sets, this part of the build felt very familiar. While there is a bit of repetition with the two sides, it isn't much. This is also the only part of the set that is extremely thick. While the rest of the shuttle is incredibly thin to maximize the space available in the cargo bay and keep the sets proportions accurate, this potion of the set does not try to maximize open space. In fact it gives you only a small mid deck. You build all but the cockpit at this time.

Now it is time to build the tail and finish up the engines and hide the mechanical components of the set. The tail I would say is probably the weakest part of the set, both in terms of techniques as well as strength. It is pretty much just straight forward stacking and a single brick wide. It does feature flaps that flare out at the back, but these too aren't too exciting. But it gets fun again when you get to the engines. This portion is kind of like building mini versions of the nose as it heavily relies on SNOT and is again a very solid build.

Finally you build the cockpit and the shuttle is complete. The cockpit isn't anything too exciting.

You will be left with a handful of parts and these build two things. First is a stand for if you wish to display the Hubble Telescope coming out of the cargo bay. And second are very small cylinders that represent its solar panels being rolled up so that it can fit in the cargo bay.

I built the set (along with the Ulysses) over 4 nights, for about 2 hours each night. This made it a very relaxing and enjoyable build. I did learn quite a few new techniques, which is something that I always look forward to when building a large set. My favorite was one that appeared completely counterintuitive when you first do it. That is taking the hinges that are composed of two 1x2 plates and open and close horizontally on the circle, and attaching them so that the hinge cannot be used. I didn't understand why you wouldn't just use a 1x4 to accomplish the same thing, especially since it would be cleaner without the semicircle sticking out in the middle. However, creating that semicircle was exactly the point as it becomes used as a very subtle and elegant support.

The Model

The completed model looks absolutely amazing. Both the Hubble and the shuttle seem perfect to me. Furthermore, the shuttle is incredibly heavy and strong, you can let your kids fly it around the house and there is pretty much no risk of it breaking with a possible exception for the tail.

You get two play features in this set. First is the landing gear which is deployed by pushing in the bottom flap underneath the engines. It works flawlessly for the rear landing gear, but I've found that if the shuttle is level horizontally that the front landing gear can get stuck. Unfortunately the mechanics for this are completely hidden, although with the cargo bay open you will see the floor move. The other feature is the wing flaps which can be adjusted by twisting the center engine. They move in tandem and in opposite directions so technically you can own change the shuttle's direction and not adjust its altitude. By opening up the engine compartments you can see a bit of the mechanics but not much.

The set can be picked up from anywhere except the tail end be flown around everything about it is incredibly rigid and feels indestructible. It is large, but despite having 400 more pieces than the Saturn V, it is much smaller (although it does have wings).

My only fear with this model is that I'm afraid it may be impossible to disassemble. Not only is it completely solid with inaccessible edges. It also has you insert some technic axles near the nose that I don't believe can be removed. Not that I don't want to keep this set assembled, it looks amazing, but I may want to take it apart to build again.

Overall

You really can't go wrong with this set. My only real complaint is the lack of astronauts to put in the shuttle. Obviously it isn't minifigure scale, but I did put in some of the little astronaut statues from Saturn V and they look a little small but reasonable. I also tried Baby Yoda but he is slightly too tall so you can't close the roof on the cockpit. Otherwise he may have been a better scale. So ultimately I'm keeping a few of those statues in there.

Anyways, this is a fantastic set, and certainly anyone who grew up in the 80's and watched the shuttle launches as a kid is going to love it. I couldn't be happier that I own this set, and it is definitely one of the highlights of my Lego collection.

This is a very cute book for younger Star Wars fans. I got this for my 7 year old and he absolutely loves it. It is written like a travel guide and gives a brief two page spread for each planet in the book. Exceptions are made for a few major planets, such as Tatooine which gets four spreads.

Parts of the book are written by Yoda, and enjoy those parts your child will. Most planets provide you with a top three sights, along with three things to pack, and an introduction to the Star Wars characters most associated with each place. Many characters will get repeated, such as Han, Lando, and Chewie who each play important roles on a variety of planets.

Another common feature is reviews of planets or places on them, written by the characters who played a role in these places. The reviews are funny and instead of providing a characters actual name, it features their online name (a joke that gets lost on younger readers who aren't allowed to freely use the internet).

The book covers planets from all three trilogies, plus Navarro. Of course my kids were super excited to see Baby Yoda in the book, although I was a little surprised that he is simply named The Child and not Grogu, although the name Din Djarin does appear in the book. I think that there was a real missed opportunity by not having the actual Yoda interact with him.

The set does come with a Yoda minifigure who has many accessories. He has a backpack, walking stick, and. 2x2 printed tile with a map of the galaxy.

I highly recommend this book, especially if your kids enjoy the other DK Lego Star Wars books. I can easily see this becoming our next bedtime story.

So I've been wanting to get 75053 for a long time, but I just can't bring myself to spend $200 on a set that is incomplete and only cost $90 when it was new. I managed to find a few affordable Rebels minifigures over the last few years, one of which was Hera, so I figured so long as it looks like I'll never get the big set, maybe I should get the microfighter. Of course, this set is also outrageously overpriced on the second hand market, but its parts are all very common so I thought why not piece it together on Bricklink, which I did, and even got the instructions. Not counting Hera, it set me back less than $10.

Hera Syndulla

Hera is the one and only minifigure, but she looks great. Her lekku uses the same mold as other twileks have had, but are green with printed detail and look very accurate. Her torso and leg prints also look great. I really couldn't ask for anything better.

The Ghost

Obviously as a microfighter, the Ghost is more of a toy than a Lego model, yet Lego did a phenomenal job capturing the appearance of the ship. Most impressive is how they captured all 4 of the ships engines at such a small scale. They also did a great job on the angles of the ship. The stud shooter on the top of course isn't accurate, but actually looks quite good when you have Hera sitting behind it, although you could easily just remove it if you wanted a more accurate looking ship. The colors and decorations on the ship also look great. The yellow curved bricks on top in the back make it a little ambiguous as to whether or not the Phantom is docked there, but you can kind of picture it either way which makes this set that much better.

Overall

Certainly this is no replacement for the larger model, but it is a very satisfying little set that will at least allow you to own a ship that was the basis of the Rebels show. Of course it would make a great toy for kids, but AFOLs will enjoy having this set a lot more than having to shell out a few hundred dollars for the big one.