The Newbury Haunted High School is, I believe, the biggest set from Hidden side theme. The transformation feature is superb — one moment the school looks normal and in a few seconds it is a monster with huge claws.

Building experience

One thing that amazed me is that this set actually uses bricks for walls and roofs. Unlike most Star Wars sets (which are mostly plates covering technic) here we have many 1x1 bricks, 1x2 and 1x3 bricks, even 1x2 and 1x1 double height. And the roof is formed from 1x2 slopes and there are even 1x2 inverter corner slopes and 1x2 top slopes. It really brings me back to fond memories of building old Black Monarchs Castle. The High school even has the same wall corner pieces that were used to form towers in some castles. This is excellent.

There is a lot of stickers and some are harder to apply but in the end it is manageable.

Much of the space inside the walls is either decorational or serves as a shell for mechanism, but there is still much space to play with minifigures.

Figures

The box show 8 figures. That includes small dog figure but doesn't include the skeleton. So it is still 8. We get yet another Jack and Parker, I don't get why they are both in so many sets (Spencer the dog too). 3 figures have possessed forms — transgreen heads, green hair and two have transgreen wings.

Playability

There is a lot of objects figures van interact with — a computer, cafeteria, library, a classroom etc.

Overall

The set is quite large and quite heavy. For 1400 pieces it feels smaller than the Star Destroyer 75190, but it is cheaper and denser. There is a lot of place for play and the built-in features are excellent. The price seems adequate for what you get, though as always one would like to pay less for Lego.

The Lego Sith Tie Fighter looks great and feels great. Even though it is quite expensive, I would recommend it fully.

Compared to other Ties (like Vonreg's Tie) it is quite large, which is also reflected in weight. The cost is similar though.

Some video reviews suggest it is front heavy. It is a little, that is why it is mounted on the stand in line with front hatch. It doesn't really impact play unless you are a very young child. A 7 year old should have no problem with it. Adult should hardly notice.

One downside is that it only has 3 figures. Other Ties have 4 mini figures and it seems there should be a Sith trooper present here.

Spring-loaded shooters are concealed in wings. It makes for a clean design but perhaps it is a little hard to reach even with two hands.

Overall I rate this model highly compared to other space ships in Lego Star Wars line.

To sum up

• (+) Great original shape
• (+) Good weight and volume (size to price ratio)
• (+) Hidden spring-loaded shooters
• (+) A stand
• (-) Lacks Sith Trooper mini figure, usually there are 4 with a Tie or an X-wing

It doesn't look like it but the set is very big and has a lot space for figures inside. Actually the included figures fill up only half of the interior or less!

It has a lot of compartments to put figures and accessories in:

• main cockpit
• weapon compartment behind the cockpit
• sleeping compartment and arrows compartment below the cockpit
• entire back section opening (though you can open just back hatch, or just side doors
• carbonite holding area with two blocks (with stickers)
• escape pod with space for one figure.

The weak points are - front part below cockpit and front engine parts tent to fall off easily. The main interior is a little low for IG-11 figure and it is hard to put him in. The set could be a little cheaper. I've got with a discount but at 114 euro it was still quite expensive.

Very nice set. I think it looks amazing with black and red pod and black outline wings.

The tie has two seats and two pilots — First Order Tie Pilots. Their helmets are almost completely black, and they are nearly invisible through the windows. I placed Lego Inferno Squad inside (they have custom Tie helmets) and they look much better because helmet eyes contrast with the helmet and are visible with the hatch closed.

Locking wings to the arms is a little tricky. Sometimes 4 connectors don't close correctly. I've had to remove wings centrepieces to see inside. But when the parts lock correctly, the wings are fixed nicely and don't fall off easily at all.

There are 3 hatches total — top, front and back. The front one is typical tie in translucent red. The back has a custom, which I think unique to this set — it looks very nice and might be useful in MOCs.

The cabin is only divided halfway through, upper part is open. This is for two reason: 1) to be able to put a mini through the upper hatch, 2) for the helmets to fit because minis sit only one stud apart from each other (the wall would interfere). For me, it looks rough, especially when both hatches are open, you can see through

Spring-loaded shooters are not concealed and are hard to reach — the missiles just stick out at the bottom, and it is not obvious how to shoot them with one hand. More modern sets have it solved better — like Vonreg Tie or Sith Tie

To sum up:

• (+) two seats and three nice hatches
• (+) sturdy build
• (+) Looks great
• (-) Cockpit is not separated
• (-) hard to reach spring-loaded missiles

New Tie Bomber is consistent with other new smaller scale models.

Building experience

It is pretty straightforward build - angled plates and curved slopes for main body, many plates for the wings. With the wings you basically build angled part 4 times. The set is small so it is acceptable. Interestingly there is no technic beam going through the whole body. Instead, the build includes plates to create rigidity and it works well. The wing connection uses the same part as 75300 Tie Fighter. The inside contains a lot of empty space.
The complete model looks quite nice, the detail is there. The scale just seems two small, even compared with 75300 Tie Fighter. Tie Bomber is dwarfed by Tie interceptor 75240.

Playability

There are two stud shooters, 4 bombs to drop and an openable cockpit. The bombs are made of flick-fire missiles are hard to reach, don't drop easily - its bad. The pilot barely fits inside, and the cockpit is just two printed tiles, no place for his pistol. It is so tight that he can't even get in with a pistol. You can't see inside the cockpit, which is disappointing given that 75300 Tie Fighter had the option.
On top of that the set is hard to grip to swoosh around.

Mini figures

There are four mini figures if you cont Gonk droid. So only 3 real ones. Darth Vader is great, Vice Admiral Sloan is just a random Imperial officer to most and the pilot is just a regular pilot.

Summary

It is an OK set. There is nothing spectacular about it other than there wasn't a Tie Bomber in 20 years. It looks fine. The price seems high though it is consistent with 7300 being 400 parts for $40 and this being 600 pieces for $60 + $5 inflation. It just takes a lot of bricks to build those round ships as it was with Tie striker 75154, which drives the price up. I would very much have it in bigger scale, but it won't happen.
So in the end - fine model, but not a must-have