In 2003, I got several sets from the short-lived Lego Discovery theme. Branded for the Discovery Channel, all these sets focused on space exploration. One of them, was 7467-1 International Space Station, Lego's first attempt at capturing the International Space Station. I got it as a kid, and built it along with the Mars set focused on Spirit and Curiosity.

The 2003 space station set... was terrible. It was a gangly thing, that felt half finished... because it depicted the space station half finished, only a few parts of the Russian segment and the American segments had been launched and assembled as of 2003, with a single truss segment in an upright position. The included shuttle Atlantis incorrectly docked with the station model via its belly on the side of the American segment. The whole model was covered in unsightly stickers and sat gingerly on two single Technic axles; the thing fell to pieces in my Lego bin and I never got the desire to rebuild it.

When the opportunity came up for a new International Space Station on Lego Ideas, I was intrigued to say the least. By 2020, the International Space Station itself was a completely different beast than the station had been in 2003 when Lego produced the first set; now the station was nearly complete, and had been established as a permanent low earth orbit habitation. It had been home to countless scientific studies, represented the completion of the American vision of "Space Station Freedom" melded with the former Soviet vision of "Mir 2," it's commercial supply vehicles paved the way for the spectacular rise of commercial space travel particularly SpaceX and their Dragon series of craft... and the station was where the first music video in space was filmed. 2003's Lego set was that of a half finished station in a half-baked set... then the 2020 set had the chance to be a fully realized station using all the best tricks and techniques Lego has developed in the 17 years since their last crack at it.

Build

There are about six bags of in the set, which comes in a nice Lego Ideas box opening box; the first bag is dedicated to building several spaceships for the set, the second focuses on the display stand, and the remaining bags focus on the actual station with the final bag dedicated to the eight enormous solar panels along the central truss. Heavy mix of SNOT and Technic pieces are needed to get the shapes right and keep the module sturdy. I particularly liked the incorporation of the 10.2mm ball joints inside the trusses to allow the rotation of the solar panel arms... I had to test out how the station solar panel's looked like as cursed arms on some of my Bionicle sets thanks to that. Poor Avak, those solar panels didn't suit his look at all...

Three small microscale astronauts/cosmonauts are included to display in EVA on the station exterior. They use the same design as those from the Saturn V set.

Accuracy

This is a model of a real structure, and as such I feel it is important to judge the set against the real thing. Wikipedia has a great article showing the construction of the station and the individual modules which I am using as a reference for this on their assembly page for the ISS. The Lego model seems to depict the most recent station arrangement as of the time of the set's release.

Let's start off on the side facing the viewer on the display stand, the American segment. Harmony is the very first module built in the set, with the three Japanese lab components to the viewer's right. The external testing lab is well depicted with a small skeleton arm to represent a robot manipulator over a platform showing where the experiments are attached. At the front of Harmony is a black fez representing PMA-2, one of the docking ports on the station. Notably lacking though is PMA-3, which should be on top of Harmony, instead an inverted Lego stud is there... still allowing for docking of some included spaceships; but omitting the distinct conical shape of the PMA modules. To the viewer's left on the side of Harmony is the European Columbus lab.

Working back, we find the USA's Destiny lab and Unity modules buried underneath the truss segments. This is pretty accurate, as the massive truss, which acts as a spine for the station does indeed obscure a large part of these modules on the real station. Jutting off to our left is the Quest airlock, represented with a soda can tile mounted to a cylindrical brick. To our right is several more modules, Tranquillity, Leondardo, the station's famous viewing window the Cupola, and the BEAM represented using Lego balloon pieces... appropriate since that module is an inflatable sphere in real life. On the bottom of Unity is a permanently attached cylindrical piece with solar panels, presumably representing a docked Cygnus cargo craft. I am actually not sure what module the Cygnus is docked to, the Leonardo used to be docked there, but it was moved to near the Tranquillity module and is already depicted on the Lego model as being visible there.

The truss dominates much of the station, running the full length of the model. As previously mentioned, the arms are mounted on 10.2mm ball and socket systems, allowing the arms to rotate to adjust the solar panels to face the sun (or the lights in our display room). White panels jutting off represent the various heat radiators, and several golden lightsaber bars serving as a rail for Canadarm 2. Canadarm 2 is one of the model's few "play features" capable of being posed as grabbing an incoming spacecraft to bring it in for docking; a real life practice used to grab SpaceX Dragon 1, Northrop Grumman Cygnus and other inbound cargo craft.

Back on the crew modules, from Unity the set transfer's into the Russian Orbital Segment. First we find Rassvet docked on the bottom of the set, with a permanently attached Soyuz/Progress style spacecraft. The Soyuz and Progress are the workhorses of the ISS project, serving as the primary crew and cargo vehicles respectively. Zarya is the next module, followed by two Soyuz docked where Poisk and Pirs are supposed to be. This is one of my few complaints on the model, like the previously mentioned PMA-3; Poisk and Pirs aren't well represented as only cylindrical pieces to allow for the two docked Soyuz; when in reality they should be spherical modules about the size of the Soyuz's orbital module. Still the design Lego used here gives these Soyuz's an advantage over the one docked on Rassvet, they can be detached from the model and displayed separately. The Soyuz on Poisk is built in bag 1 for example, while the Soyuz with Pirs is built with the rest of the Russian segment to highlight the ability of these craft to dock and undock with the modules here. Finally, Zvezda caps the end of the model with an additional nadir docking port for one more Soyuz/Progress style ship to dock with the station.

On The Subject of Scale

In total, the model includes several spacecraft... the four Soyuz/Progress style craft, one Northrop Grumman Cygnus, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon, a single Space Shuttle and a lone capsule, presumably to represent either a SpaceX Dragon 2, a Boeing Starliner or perhaps a NASA Orion.This collection, is where the limits of micro-scale really come into play as this diagram shows when comparing all the real life vehicles in scale. While the Soyuz showcase their orbital modules and service module very well, the bullet shaped re-entry module is omitted from the craft. The Cargo Dragon, despite in real life being about the same size as the Dragon 2 and Starliner, is one of the smallest craft in the set; really only recognizable due to its shape. The Cygnus is absolutely huge, it should be much closer in diameter to the Cargo Dragon (a real life necessity as Cygnus normally launches on the smaller Antares rocket, while Dragon variants fly on the Falcon 9). The shuttle is slightly undersized, it should be a bit larger since it absolutely dominated the scene when docked to the real ISS.

Again though, I really don't know how much of this could have been avoided due to the particular limitations of building with Lego in such a small scale. The station itself is gorgeous and other than a few small omissions, it succeeds in capturing the correct shape and look of the station. I think some MOC'ers will have a good time modifying the microships and station modules to their fancy, getting things a bit more accurate than the official set captures, while what Lego did provide in the box is close enough to represent the job for those who don't mind the small scale errors the ships cause.

Expandability

Speaking of MOCs... the ISS is a craft that is not yet "truly" finished. The Russian Segment is still waiting for a few additional expansions, and I think Lego's set will make it easy for MOC builders to include those planned expansions if the real ones ever launch in real life. The Nauka lab is supposed to replace Pirs, and would easily dock into the Lego module in Pirs location where there is currently a Soyuz on the underbelly of the Russian Segment. Several other Russian science modules again are supposed to dock to Nauka, however delays in funding for Nauka have some doubting the Russians will ever launch it; but the Lego model definitely has the possibility of easily adding it if the real thing ever makes it to orbit.

The next big expansion currently planned for the ISS is Axiom Station, a commercial space station extension that will allow for a corporate research lab, habitation for space tourists, additional solar panels on a new vertical truss, and a second viewing Cupola with much larger windows. This will be a bit harder to incorporate in the Lego module, as Harmony has only one stud available at where PMA-2 is currently at. I am sure some rather ingenious Lego fans will be able to solve the challenge of successfully including the Axiom Station as an extension in their ISS set. Lastly, I wouldn't be surprised to see future MOCs to bring additional ships to the current microscale spaceship fleet, such as the commercial Dream Chaser, the Japanese HTV, the European ATV, the proposed Russian Orel, the commercial British based Skylon, and of course SpaceX's proposed and potentially revolutionary Starship, a massive stainless steel vessel that would dwarf most of the station's own modules!

Conclusion

The fact I am ending this after talking about all the MOC possibilities should be telling how I feel about this set. Are there issues in the scaling and omission of some smaller modules? Yes. However, it doesn't ruin the fact this set is highly detailed, well shaped, and manages to capture its subject well. Even putting this next to the much larger Saturn V, the ISS holds its own as a display piece; its massive solar panel arms on the truss catch the eye and just look excellent on display. 2003's 7467-1? That can stay broken up in the part's bin for all I care... this new ISS is the definitive rendition of the station, and while not perfect it is teaming with opportunity for MOC building and extensions to keep it up to date with the latest developments of the station.

While I agree to an extent with the sentiment that sometimes it feels like Lego Ideas is overrun with NASA and space exploration sets... I think it is clear that there is a demand for more of these sets; especially if they continue the high quality that the ISS and Saturn V demonstrated. There is countless more possible rockets and spacecraft for Lego to someday touch... How about a take on the Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy (red Tesla of course sitting in the cargo fairing)? The classic Soviet era R7 that is still flying in upgraded form as the modern Soyuz and Soyuz 2 rocket family? How about some love for the suborbital SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo craft and their White Knight carriers? The possibilities are endless, and have the potential to create more high quality display vehicles and capture STEM history in Lego form.

At $70 USD the ISS is well worth its price of purchase. It sits proudly next to my Saturn V and a few of the spacemen from the Lego Movie sets... (definitely a ship for Benny to get excited about!) Now to save up for that Apollo lunar lander set to finish the collection...

Major Vonreg’s TIE Fighter is one of two sets released this year based on the Disney XD animated series Star Wars: Resistance. After Lego gave Star Wars: The Clone Wars several years of dominance in the Lego Star Wars theme, only to let its successor Star Wars Rebels fade into a diminishing release schedule in its final seasons (thank goodness we at least got one set with Thrawn out of that theme before Lego stopped producing Rebels sets) it seems Lego is taking a bit of a cautious approach to Resistance with two medium-large sets rather than the massive waves Clone Wars and Rebels both got around the launch of their first few seasons. It’s a bit of an understandable choice though, seeing Resistance is destined to share the store shelf with sets left over from The Last Jedi and Solo, the 20^th Anniversary sets, and the upcoming Mandalorian, Fallen Order, and of course Rise of the Skywalker set waves. In comparison both The Clone Wars and Rebels got lucky to have their peak Lego sets coincide with times in the Lucasfilm release schedule when there wasn’t much else going on outside of the animated TV series!

Of course with just two sets for Resistance it seems odd that the ‘hero ship’ The Fireball is omitted from this first release wave in choice two TIE based ships; one a villain ship and a secondary hero ship that via its inclusion of the word "TIE" its title might lead non-fans of the series to wrongly assume its also a villain ship! I have hope that we might see a second batch of Resistance sets for 2020 with the missing ships included, but until then we'll have to hope this wave satisfies the fans of the show.

Minifigures

Major Vonreg, is the title character of the set and in the TV series plays the role of a secondary antagonist from The First Order. Spoilers ahead, he’s dead by the end of Season One! Despite being such a one off character, he’s got a pretty neat TIE Fighter in the show that is the basis for this set; and is used in a few dogfights against Poe Dameron and Kaz throughout the first season. As a minifigure, Vonreg will certainly draw attention for his so far exclusive dual molded helmet piece. The red hue used for molding this figure is the same color as used for Snoke’s guard, so Vonreg fits in nicely with those figures when placed in a First Order centric display. Vonreg comes with a small blaster as an accessory like the other human figures in this set. His head is solid black, since his face was never shown in the series. Unless he somehow managed to cheat his apparent death in season one, I am going to bet this will be the only set we manage to get this character in.

Kazudo Xiono, the lead character of the series; this figure has already gained attention from the AFOL community for his dual colored hair piece that is molded in tan-like color with the top part painted black. His double sided faces both show a serious and angry ‘battle face’ and I have to say, that is a pretty off depiction of the character. As a Resistance spy stationed on the Colossus refueling station, in the show Kaz is a pretty goofy greenhorn who nearly blows his cover a half dozen times over because he’s such an over eager novice. He really doesn’t start showing his more serious side until towards the end of the first season, when the First Order occupation of the Colossus and the (prematurely presumed) 'death' of his parents during the attack on Hossnian Prime( as seen simultaneously in the TV show and The Force Awakens) forced Kaz to grow up quickly. Even then, Kaz still has such an abundant youthful energy it’s hard to imagine him as dead serious as the Lego figure seems to be. I think an overly cocky smirk or some goofy outlandish expression would be more appropriate for the character in place of the serious face.

General Leia Organa, surprisingly this is only the second version of ‘old’ Leia we have got in the last few years, and in my opinion is one of the highlights of this set. There’s a grandmotherly like smile on one alternate face, while the other has this wicked looking smirk that would make the late Carrie Fisher proud. Compared to Kaz, I’d dare say that Lego absolutely nailed the facial expressions of Leia. The outfit is very similar to the 2016 version of the character, but has new details for the suit; while simplifying the belt buckle printing. While Vonreg's helmet may be a technical molding masterpiece, Leia's wonderful graphic design makes her the best figure in this set in my opinion.

R1-J5 ‘Bucket’, each Star Wars animated series has a tradition of supporting astromech droids; from R2-D2 in The Clone Wars and Chopper in Rebels. Resistance does it three times over, with BB-8, CB-23, and of course Bucket all playing roles in the series. As of yet CB-23 is the only one of the three not to be seen in Lego form; but I am very glad we got Bucket here. The build is kind of fun on this guy, echoing elements of Chopper from Rebels, while also using a few pieces and a unique helmet print to really give off the sense this is a rusted out & beat up early generation astromech droid. Without creating any new molds, I feel this is as close as Bucket could be represented in Lego and I am very satisfied with this character. Of course the inclusion of Bucket raises a question, were is his owner Jarek Yeager? Yeager is one of this wave’s biggest omissions, and I hope Resistance does get a second set wave were Yeager is released.

The Build

Ever built any Lego TIE fighter from the last seven years? Major Vonreg’s touches on a lot of the same tried and true formula. It leans a bit more towards the TIE Striker with its Technic core being used for stability in the model than it leans towards any of the other TIE sets I have built, but despite that the familiar trappings of a Lego TIE are all still there. But that is not a bad thing, if it ain’t broke why fix it? The obvious inclusion of the striking red color though give’s Vonreg some visual flair the gray Imperial sets all lacked.

The Finished Model

Vonreg’s TIE is a stunning set piece with that red color so dominant. Trust me, when put alongside the gray and black colors used in most First Order or Imperial sets, this red is going to pop out! The spring loaded shooters have a lever to fire them off, but while it doesn’t look to bad it doesn’t look to great either and I imagine some modder’s will omit it in their set. The wings are securely attached to the body via Technic, but have a lot of give to them. There is no risk of the wings falling off, but it is strange to see them wiggle so much while handling the set. Overall this is a satisfactory model, and I imagine its design being modified via MOC builders to make some more traditional TIE Interceptors over the coming months. It wouldn't surprise me if someone already has!

Conclusion

This set with its figures from Star Wars: Resistance will hopefully be enough to satisfy fans of the show until we can get a second wave with more characters from the series, the omission of Yeager being something I hope to see rectified in another wave. Leia in particular is a highlight of this set, being her first release in her Sequel Trilogy outfit since 2016. The build is a great rendition of Major Vonreg’s TIE and with a few modifications should represent an Original Trilogy TIE Interceptor for any Lego fan willing to do some extensive color swapping. The wobbly wings and mechanism for the spring loaded shooters aren’t great, but are something I can live with. Overall, I recommend this set to any fan of the TV series, or a Lego collector hoping to add a unique vehicle to their collection of First Order sets and some unique figures to their Resistance line up, especially if it can be found at the discounted $56USD price that has been rather common for it on store shelves.

Last May I went with my family to a trip to Disneyland. We arrived the day before we'd actually enter the park, so we used the time to do some exploring in the Downtown Disney shopping center next to the theme parks. My dad and I had set up a reservation at The VOID VR experience along with my cousin to experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, an augmented VR story set inside Darth Vader's castle that was first introduced in Rogue One (in a way that makes this our first Star Wars set inspired partially by a theme-park type experience... now Lego were is my freaking Star Tours set already?!).

For the brief 15 minutes or so we were in the attraction; we got to experience the world of Mustafar through our VR headsets. The heat of the lava flows, the chaos of being shot at by the castle's stormtrooper guards; and then finally an encounter with the castle's famed resident Darth Vader himself... Leaving the VR experience my mother who was waiting outside pointed out that I was shaking and sweating like crazy, and the best explanation I had for her was that I had just came face to face with Lord Vader himself and it scared me in a way that can't be properly described on a website such as Brickset! To say it was intense and caused me to fully suspend the illusion of disbelief would be an understatement. For those who haven't seen the VR experience yet, I can best describe that encounter with Lord Vader as being very similar to the finale of Rogue One.

So when Lego announced 75251-1 Darth Vader's Castle I knew I had to buy the set. I picked it up shortly after Christmas and here are my thoughts on it.

Minifigures

Imperial Transport Pilot; one of two unique figures to this set, I bring up the Imperial Transport Pilot first since he is the character here most linked to the Secrets of the Empire VR experience and not to the castle's appearance in Rogue One.

In the VR experience the Imperial Transport Pilot is actually a rebel spy in disguise, who is joined with K2SO from Rogue One in a mission to infiltrate Darth Vader's castle. The screenshot from above shows the character as he appears in the VR experience, and highlights that the minifigure is missing a backpack and the blue printing on the lower legs. Despite those omissions, I have to say I am fairly satisfied with the finished look of the figure, especially with the nice re-use of the mold for the Scarrif Stormtroopers from Rogue One. The blue highlights stand out, and make the character match the color scheme of the 501st legion from The Clone Wars era. The faceprint used for the character is unfortunately the common 'Angry Clone' head, and not a more unique print to hint at this status as a secret Rebel spy. (Side note, one of my former neighbors actually now works for The Void in their development offices in Utah, and when I look at this figure I always wonder if he played a part in the design of the character in the VR experience. Just makes me wonder...)

Darth Vader: Bacta Tank

The next wholly exclusive figure takes its inspiration from a scene in Rogue One and is a critical element to finishing one of the completed scenes in the model. Lego is a bit limited in that it can't make minifigures completely lacking arms or legs, a problem that has been seen in previous sets depicting Anakin's transformation to Darth Vader following his defeat at the hands of Obi Wan in Revenge of the Sith. Just like the Anakin figure in 75183-1, the bacta suit version of Vader in this set gets around the issue by depicting his missing limbs with metallic silver arms, hands and legs to suggest his prosthetic replacements.

Its a fairly effective solution, and I like how the finished figure looks. The printing on the head is a unique 'resting' Vader face only available in this set, and the torso print is also new depicting some sort of mechanical implant in Vader's chest. A scuba diver rebreather piece is added to the neck to represent the respiration system Vader wears while in the bacta tank.

Royal Guards

We get two Royal Guards to protect the castle. These are great figures, but near identical to the two Royal Guards from 2014 in the 75034-1 battlepack and the 75093-1 Death Star duel set. The main difference is the previous stiff cape pieces have been replaced with the newer soft cape material. Still two spectacular figures and great additions to the set, but not anything really new.

Darth Vader

Like the Royal Guards, this fully suited version of Vader is identical to the version seen in several other sets including 75093-1, using the 'smiling Vader' faceprint from that set and not the Anakin faceprint from 75183-1. The helmet mold is starting to enter its fourth year since being introduced, and its still a pretty nice upgrade on the original with the separate neck and helmet pieces being able to open up similar to how it was seen functioning in Empire Strikes Back. Again another great figure, but nothing new compared to the previous releases of Darth Vader.

The Build

Structure sets of this size aren't pretty common in the Lego Star Wars theme, but the build follows the conventions of similar sets from other themes; starting at the bottom foundation and heading up to the top of the structure. Probably the most unique structural element of the design is how the upper two-thirds of the tower are built as individual walls similar to the construction of Tie-Fighter wings in larger sets, set at an angle, and then connected to each other to form a rather sturdy structure.

The small Tie-Advanced is one of the first things built in the set, and has a considerable amount of SNOT work to allow for a functional minifigure craft at such a small scale.

The Finished Model

When complete, Darth Vader's castle stands at an impressive height as a standalone model; however it is comparable in height somewhat to other Lego Star Wars sets such as the various AT-AT or Imperial Shuttle variants we have gotten over the years. It kind of makes me wish we could have gotten this set just a little taller since displaying it directly side by side with other large Star Wars sets ruins the illusion of forced perspective. However that sense of forced perspective can be restored by displaying it alone, or maybe with some creative tricks a MOC builder might come up with to modify the set. The use of forced perspective is rather comparable to the large Disney Castle set from a few years back, with windows and other features decreasing in size as the model goes up in height. A lava flow on the front made of transparent orange bricks emphasizes this, and the lava always catches the ambient lighting well in a room giving it a decent 'glow' to it.

The model is rather sturdy despite the unique construction methods used, and I can using two hands safely pick up the model on the upper walls and move it around. However when possible, I would recommend picking it up from the sturdier base although moving it around with the upper walls is possible.

The Tie-Advanced is a nice inclusion and a solid looking model with its sleek wing panels, but it is by no means the highlight of this set. The 'basement' of the castle consists of three separate scenes, a large empty hangar for the Tie to dock at, an adjunct to the hanger with a set of stairs to the next level, a charging port for the brickbuilt mouse droid and storage for extra studs for the stud shooters on the Tie-Advanced and the turret on the top of the building. On the opposite side of the basement is one of the most intriguing aspects of the model, a Sith Shrine. While the Sith Shrine does not match any particular canon source, it bears a loose resemblance to the similar shrine's seen on Malachor in Star Wars: Rebels and the canon shrine built at Vader's Castle which was revealed in a comic book about the same time this set released.

A play feature hidden in the rock work of the basement level is doors which open up to reveal a hidden lightsaber hilt and a red kyber crystal to build a Sith lightsaber. I do wish this sort of generic lightsaber had been replaced with a Lego build/mold more closely resembling the blue double pronged 'ancient' lightsaber from Secrets of the Empire.

The next level is connected to the bottom by the after-mentioned set of stairs. A hinged door opens up to the outside to allow access into the center room. The small platforms outside have enough room to place figures, perhaps recreating the combat scenes on the exterior of the castle from Secrets of the Empire.

The interior of the room on this floor takes inspiration from Rogue One, and it is here that Bacta Suit Vader has his use. A bacta tank made from transparent blue cylinders rests in the middle of the room. The bacta tank sits on jumpers so it can be removed from the room to more easily open it to place Vader in and out of it. There is enough room to place the two Royal Guards in the room to protect Vader while he is in the tank. It is at this point were it is worth noting one of the noticeable character omissions from this set, Vader's aid from Rogue One named Vanee. While Vanee was a rather minor character, I do wish he was included in this set since he is the one in the film who 'awakes' Vader from the bacta tank when Director Krennic arrives.

The next floor takes inspiration from the Meditation Pod from Empire Strikes Back, with a pod big enough to sit a fully armored Vader in it. The use of pieces on clips around a circular brick to create the illusion of a circular pod is a bit rough, but I can't think of any other method that may have worked better especially at this small scale. With that said, its still a fun play feature; and offers another iconic Vader related scene in this set. In addition to the meditation pod, a small hologram table with a figurine representing a hologram of Emperor Palpatine rest just to the right (or to the viewer's left) of the meditation pod. A single modified plate with a peg provides a spot to mount Darth Vader's lightsaber, but if the blade piece is left in the lightsaber it will bump against the slanted walls of the room if built as shown in the instructions.

The final floor is a circular brick that forms the roof of the castle. A stud shooter is mounted as a turret here on the roof. A sticker pattern on the roof suggests this location is loosely patterned after the circular meeting pad (?) that Darth Vader met Director Krennic at during Rogue One. However the slanted angle of the walls here and the small size of the roof make it kind of difficult (although not impossible) to place two figures on the roof to suggest such a meeting taking place.

Conclusion

As a whole, Darth Vader's Castle is a pretty solid set with plenty of play features and a solid build depicting a new, but rapidly becoming an iconic location in the Star Wars saga. Are there a few things I would change or add to the set? Yes, I do think the exclusion of Vanee is unfortunate; and I can think of a few other elements that would have also been nice inclusions to the set such as the ancient lightsaber from Secrets of the Empire, Director Krennic from Rogue One, or K2SO in part due to his role in Secrets of the Empire.

The set successfully ticks off that one critical piece for me, does it remind me of the VR experience? Yes, its pretty easy to remember leaving Secrets of the Empire shaking and sweating from having just encountered Darth Vader in his fortress building this set. The fact its a never before seen location in Lego Star Wars to and not a remake of something from the more familiar Original Trilogy or Prequel Trilogy also gives this set a very unique vibe. I recommend this set to any Star Wars fan, especially those who are fans of Vader, Rogue One or who perhaps had similarly frightening experiences in the VR attraction as I had!

In 2002 around the release of the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets I got set 4727-1 Aragog in the Dark Forest. It was never one of my favorite Harry Potter sets, and over the years I let it fall apart and become part of the spare pieces bin. Now, 16 years later Aragog's Lair is essentially a remake of the original 2002 set, and succeeds in surpassing it in everyway!

Figures

Harry Potter

Other than Star Wars itself, the Harry Potter/Wizarding World license has been one of Lego's longest running themes. Despite a few years between releases with no major sets since the last Harry Potter film and only a few Dimensions packs in-between; the theme has returned now to great fanfare. It makes sense that 'The Boy Who Lived' would factor into the theme heavily, appearing in everything from the Collectible Minifigure line, as a microfigure in the D2C Hogwarts, and again in the retail sets.

Now part of my reason for mentioning the previous Aragog in the Dark Forest set is because the Harry and Ron variants in this set are modernized remakes of the 2002 sets figures... for comparison here is the Brickset database image of the 2002 figure:

And here is the modern iteration in the current set with the image from the Brickset archive:

Like the original figure, Harry is wearing a dark blue jacket over a light blue button up shirt. The new face print and hair mold are unique to the modern Harry figure. The black hair has a brighter sheen to it than the same piece from the collectible minifigure series, suggesting slight differences between the plastic used in the European/Mexican factories and the China factory were the collectible series is made. One of the biggest advances the current line has made is using the short legs on Harry Potter. While the short legs were available at the time of the original Harry Potter sets, they were only used for characters such as goblins and not on the main cast, so its a nice update to see them used so readily in the Wizarding World theme along with the new skirt and medium legs pieces to represent different characters.

For accessories Harry comes with his wand which comes in a two-pack sprue and is a new mold for this year, and the new candle which is a two piece assembly with the flame and stick being separate pieces. As pointed out by reviewers such as Jangbricks, this line has been plagued with a minor printing error with the doublesided head, where rather than the two faces being perfectly 180 degrees from each other, there is more of an offset near 170 or 160 degrees between the faces. I have no clue what caused this error as it is present on both Harry and Ron, but their hair molds cover it up and make it hard to notice in practical play or display situations.

Ron Weasley

For starters here is the Brickset image of the original 2002 figure:

... and the Brickset image for the current figure:

I noticed the sweater-jacket is pretty similar to the original figure, but the original figure lacks the red undershirt. So I decided to grab a film still to see which figure was more accurate...

... and no surprise, the red undershirt is indeed present in the film! Harry is also holding the lantern which Ron is given as an accessory in this set in addition to his wand. Again the wand comes in a sprue with a second wand, placing a total of four wands in this set (*I wonder how many Olivander's MOCs will be inspired by all the spare wands lying around from this theme? I already feel like I have enough Lego wands for a small army and I have yet to buy any of the bigger sets!) The lantern is a new single piece mold, with enough room to place a cylindrical trans-yellow brick in it to give it a nice sheen. As previously mentioned, Ron has a doublesided head which was printed on a slight offset. I find his 'scared face' print to be more similar to the actor (*note screenshot above) especially in this scene with the famous line "Follow the spiders! Why couldn't it be follow the butterfly's?!?" Ah, early 2000's kiddie horror film scenes, what's not to love?

Overall, while the printing issue with the doublesided heads are a strange lapse of quality control on Lego's part; it feels like a nitpick at this point. Overall the two figures of this set are pretty spectacular and well worth having! Great updates all around. The only disappointment is that the same figures are re-used in the Hogwart's Express, but that is more a strike against that set since here the characters are screen accurate to their Chamber of Secrets appearance.

Build

The set starts off building the tree. I love the new spider molds used here! The tree is rather straight forward except a small segment in the middle trunk which uses the Astromech body from Chopper in Star Wars Rebels to offset a Technic hole for a flick-fire missile function (*more on that later...).

The real meat of the build is Aragog... and boy oh boy... he is something special with lots of the new small pieces in Lego's catalog used to great effect and some simple SNOT methods to highlight the build. For a set I purchased for just $12 this is actually a surprisingly substantial build, and I really enjoyed it!

Overall

The first real standout other than the minifigures is Aragog himself. This is the third rendition of the character (*although our fourth 'fantasy movie spider' since Lord of the Rings gave us a Shelob build a few years back). This version of Aragog is probably the best of the three so far released. The first from my 2002 set was overly large and not vary posable. The second released alongside a variant of Hagrid's hut was smaller, but due to the design used had what looked like a flat face and odd proportions with the katana pieces as legs!

This Aragog though, manages to pack a lot of detail and playability into a very small build. The legs use the new-ish insect leg molds, and the eyes are represented using a nice print on the circular tile. Aragog joins the large line-up of 'Fantastic Beasts' in this year's sets, and he does so pretty well.

The second part of the build, the tree is decent but not outstanding. The funnest part of the tree honestly is finding places to include the many many spiders included, having them dangle from different places and spook Harry and Ron. Yes... there is a flick fire missile included with a web print on it. I like the print, and when static it is a great addition to the tree... but I think as a play feature its sort of a dud. I don't like flick fire missiles in general, especially now that Lego has the spring loaded missiles and stud shooters as an alternative and those tend to work better than the flick fire design. Fortunately, the feature is so well hidden in this tree its easy to leave it there untouched if your like me and would much rather not have a flying missile web coming out of the tree.

With all that said, at $12 this is a great little set. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap entry to the Wizarding World line, and also to anyone who is collecting the larger sets. Aragog alone is worth the price of admission, and while Harry and Ron are seen in another set this is the cheapest place to get them! Great value and great display options with Aragog and just a ton of fun all around.

I have always been around the medical field in my life. Both my parents are nurses and continue to work in the medical field in management positions, my sister works a front desk position at a clinic, and I currently am working a front desk job for a hospital Radiology department to help fund my way through college as I work towards my mechanical engineering degree. No matter what I try, it seems I just can't escape the near omnipresent shadow of the healthcare industry in my life.

That is probably why the brief medical scenes in Echo Base in Irvin Kershner's The Empire Strikes Back have stuck with me over the years. Something about it is so familiar to the constant presence of hospitals and clinics growing up; yet the strange droids, the bacta tank and the unnatural cleanliness of the medical bay in Empire is so alien at the same time. It really speaks to the vision of George Lucas how such a familiar sight became so unique and fantastical in the Star Wars universe. Star Trek may have had it's Dr. Bones a country doctor in space; but Lucas's world was more foreign to reality; with the blank faces of medical droids attending to patients with an eerie scientific precision. Its no surprise that the Star Wars Universe would return to clinical scenes again in the future, such as when Darth Vader was first encased in his black armor at the end of Revenge of the Sith, Finn waking up in a clunky Bacta suit in The Last Jedi, or even the discovery of hidden Republic soldiers in a hidden clinic room on the planet Taris in the video game Knights of the Old Republic. In that sense, this set succeeds in conjuring up those memories.

Minifigures

Luke Skywalker; this variant of Luke is unique to this set. While a previous version of him in his Bacta Tank outfit was available in 2011; this figure is a complete update to that older one. His doublesided head shows both the rebreather he wore inside the tank, and the other shows him awake after leaving the tank. My favorite subtle detail is the slight purple hue under his right eye on both sides of the head, showing off the black eye the wampa gave him earlier in the film. He sure looks strong enough to 'pull the ears of a gundark' with it!

Princess Leia; Remember that UCS Hoth set from a few years back which mysteriously lacked Leia? This figure seems ready to rectify that situation! Leia wears her hair in a high bun in this set. The face is doublesided and looks oddly familiar to me like I have seen it on other figures before, but I can't place where. The white body and the torso printing all look really good, and rather screen accurate. EDIT: A few other reviewers online pointed out this torso print was previously exclusive to the UCS Falcon, so its great to see it here in a cheap set!

2-1B; One of the two droids in this set; 2-1B has been made in Lego before but hasn't shown up in a while. For the most part he is rather similar to previous releases; but since I haven't gotten him before I am glad to finally have him.

FX-7; I loved the FX series droids as a kid; especially with memories of standing next to one trying to heal my health bar in the classic Battlefront game series. We have gotten an FX-6 droid before in both renditions of Darth Vader's transformation... however this is the first FX-7 we have gotten. I love the brick built methods here to assemble the figure; and it looks great in the medical bay next to the Bacta tank! Nice bit of continuity to, since the FX-7 is about the same height as the FX-6 from the Darth Vader set; they really do look like variant models based on similar designs.

The Build

Lego Star Wars has been doing a lot of small $30 sets recently, and a few fans pointed out this set does bear a resemblance to the recently released Jurrassic Park set from a few months back. With that said, I am personally loving these cheap location based set Star Wars is beginning to give us! Building the set is prety straight forward though, mostly vertical brick stacking with just a few SNOT bricks used for detailing.

The Finished Model

Once assembled, the full medical bay scene is revealed. The main build is a single, anglular wall on the back end of the set, seperating the front portion of the medical bay from the back. A new angled door frame piece I am not familiar with is used to seperate the two rooms. On the back side there is a rotating patient's chair. It honestly looks like a dentists office here, and images of Steve Martin's character from Little Shop of Horrors dancing around this chair with an unfortunate minifigure strapped into it seem to come to mind while looking at it... There are a few clips and cabinets nearby to store the surgical scissors and needles in the medical bay.

The front end though is the main focal point of the rest of the set. The bacta tank is pretty imposing, and can slide back to open and allow the Luke figure to be placed inside. A rotating dias for FX-7 is next to the tank, allowing the figure to easily be rotated alongside the tank. On the other side is a sink and a storage cabinet. In the middle is a bed pod built into the wall... This part of the model looks great with its simplicity and sharp angles; but... I can't unsee the most strange kiss in movie history looking at the included Luke and Leia figures alongside the bed... since I am pretty sure this is the place were 'Luke kissed his sister!' in the film. Although this does raise the idea there is a missing character in this set, it would have been great to have had Han Solo as an included figure with a unique double sided face of disgust for having had to witness that (again Han would have been a great inclusion for the obligatory "scruffy looking nerf herder" argument that happened then to).

Conclusion

This is a pretty fun set. I think it has enough play features alongside its recognizable appearance to make it a worthwhile addition for every Star Wars fan. While I do think the set could have been improved with the addition of Han Solo, at the $30 price range this is pretty comparable in content to other recent sets. The iconic scene of the Bacta Tank with FX-7 is worth it alone in my opinion. All in all, its a great little Hoth set and a nice way celebrate the Empire Strikes Back.