When I saw this was being given as a May the 4th promotion, I really wanted to find an excuse to spend $75. Well my excuse was to do some early holiday shopping and now I have this very unique Star Wars set.

Packaging

First, the box is beautiful and can be opened simply by cutting the tape, no need to rip or separate glue! So the set is off to a very good start.

Now I do own another special promotional set, 5004419 which is the Classic Castle set celebrating 60 years of Lego. It came with a beautiful instruction book that was half instructions and half a history of Lego sets on a thicker stock, as well as a postcard featuring stickers of minifigures over the years. I was expecting similar with this set, but unfortunately it just comes with a standard instruction book. A bit of a letdown, it would have been really cool to see how minifigures evolved as well as how Star Wars sets evolved as well. I only have Star Wars sets from the last 10 years, so to see examples from the first 10 years would have been fun.

The Build

This is a 200 brick set with several distinct components so don’t expect rocket science, but that said it is a fun little build. There is the base which is interestingly made by stacking bricks sideways. It uses roof tiles to make snow banks and the occasional long 1x12 plate to give it stability. As part of the base you will build the simple but very well designed 14-brick power generators which are the lone example of the Echo Base. You will also add the 2 brick probe droid which despite its simplicity is easily recognizable. This build accounts for about half the bricks in the set.

Next up are the two 13-brick snow speeders. One in orange and one in gray. These feel very much like they were taken directly out of an advent calendar. They are built from very basic brick stacking and sit atop clear 1x1 round bricks which attach to studs that stick up out of the model base.

Finally you build the 71-brick (assuming I counted correctly) AT-AT, which just like an AT-AT crossing a frozen tundra, it completely dominates the set. My son actually has the AT-AT polybag released a couple of years ago (30497)and I will say this is easily twice the size and has much better detail. While the build is not all that different from the polybag, it is much more detailed and even on its own looks imposing.

The Model

Obviously this set was intended as a display piece. However it actually makes a pretty decent play set as well. With an AT-AT with sturdy poseable legs and a head that swivels, and 2 little snow speeders to fly around it. It’s the kind of set that would be fun to keep at the grandparents house. The only difficult part is getting the AT-AT to stand on the 2 studs available on the base. As a display set you will attach it once and done, but as a play set it may get frustrating to attach it when you are ready to put it away.

Parts

This may be the strongest part of the set. Not only do you get some very large white bricks as part of the base, but you also get a ton of SNOT bricks making this set an excellent resource for your MOCs. Plus you get 2 printed tiles. The cockpit of the AT-AT which could easily be integrated into a Star Wars MOC, and the beautiful 20th anniversary tile which of course is intended for display.

Overall

If you spent the $75 on May the 4th you are going to be happy that you had done so. If you didn’t, I imagine that it could be fairly expensive to get this set in the future. This really is the perfect promotional set, a set that is very fun to have, but not the kind of set that you would want to pay for.

If I were to purchase a 200 brick Star Wars set I would probably opt for a standard set over this one, after all half the build is the base which adds very little play value. Plus there are no minifigures with this set, and for good reason, but it’s always more fun when they are included. Just one snow trooper next to the 20th anniversary tile would have looked great.

This could be a fun little display piece to put on a desk. So if you were looking to spruce up your desk at work you may want to get this. It’s definitely much more grown up looking than your typical Lego set.