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.

Opening;

The Tatooine Homestead was the £75/$80 (I think) threshold promotion available around Star Wars day 2021. Now, people are very split on these micro landscape promotions, myself, I would prefer a Minifigure included with a related landscape as I don't feel one or the other is substantial on its own unlike some people but, the most vocal and head lighted members of the LEGO Star Wars community believe Minifigures should be returned to the May 4th pedestal. So let's see if it really is that bad...

The 'Characters'-

This set includes various micro characters including: Luke Skywalker (a white and dark tan stud), C-3PO (two pearl gold studs), R2-D2 (a silver stud), Uncle Owen (a light tan and dark brown stud), Aunt Beru (a medium azure and dark orange stud) and two Jawas (both redish brown studs).

The Build-

The Build is very unconventional as it is all built like sideways with the back right corner adorned with light and dark tan slopes for a rocky surface, this shaping continues to around the middle point and then slopes down by a brick leaving a flat area where six out of the seven characters are connected through a snot method. This area also features a micro Sandcrawler, despite it being nowhere near to scale with the characters, it is still one of the most impressive areas of the set featuring 4 black roller skates for treads and a printed redish brown 2×2 tile on each side for further detail, the front slopes in and a 1×2 grille is used for the window hatch and the back and top feature various grilles for more detail. The centre piece is built on a 6×8 dark tan plate wedged in the centre with the Lars residence presented, arch bricks make up the underground tunnel entrances and a lever and a telescope make up central antenna, the outside features a Lukes landspeeder build made of a curved dark red tile and some binoculars for the engines, and finally you have the hutt in which two unfortunate charred skeletons are found in episode 4, it uses a white 2×2 cone and three curved 1×1s for entrances along with two surrounding water vaporators with one using a white lipstick piece to increase its height. There is a 2×4 tile in the centre of the side with 'LEGO Star Wars 2021' printed to show that it is a commemorative item.

In conclusion -

This is in no way a bad promotion and is definitely the best recent *accessible* one (talking to you Lukes Lightsaber). However, it doesn't mean it is without its flaws, the main one being that Aunt Beru has been represented in LEGO with two studs before a Minifigure counterpart is released, it would have been a perfect way of pleasing both sides of the debate by including Aunt Beru and the build. I personally think that would be a great method of disrupting the arguments. Anyway I recommend this to those who like the micro landscapes but if you don't like them, just stay away rather than going out of your way to get something you don't like and will make you angry.