Not usually a fan of droid-centric sets, but was actually excited for this one. Sadly, the design didn't live up to my expectations. Might rank last for me in the second series of microfighters.

(Special shout out to the previous reviewer for listing the specs of the ship!)

Box/Instructions

It'saboxwithinstructions.

Parts

For only 77 pieces, Lego uses a good spread of interesting or rare-ish pieces, like this roof tile piece and the various shell pieces used to make the wings.

Minifigures

Droids are easy to come by, but the blue torso is always welcome. This may not be the place for a worn-out observation, but still wish the droid models were better than they are, particularly the legs.

The big drawback is droid has nowhere to sit! Like the droid speeder for 75037, this guy hangs on to the back with his hands, legs dangling down. At least on 75037, I could use the extra 1x1 wedge on the back to create a makeshift platform to stand on. As a vertically narrow spaceship, this set is inherently difficult to design with a space to sit owing to the limiting legs of the droid. It's a miniature scale of a much bigger ship, I get it, but the droid just hangs off the back occupying awkward void space in a way that's not at all consistent with the placement of the other minifigs in their respective vehicles. In my opinion, that is one of the main features that gives this line the charm.

(I like how the AAT 75029 handles this problem, using tiles on the seat and "locking" the droid in with the slanting windshield. We'll see how this issue is addressed in 75077, which is on the way now, though pictures look like there is space for that droid to stand inside.)

The build

Interesting but not overly complicated build that represents the ship well.

The completed model

Pretty good, but with a few major drawbacks. I've already covered that the droid hangs off the back like it's a runaway train. (Spacetrains would be awesome...) The effect could have been minimized by at least giving it a footrest protruding from the bottom of the ship.

The wings rotate which is a necessary play feature, though they do so individually. It wouldn't have been too difficult to run a single axle through the ship so they moved together. More than that, though, the module bush piece acts as an endcap to the axle. The problem is there's not quite enough friction and the entire wing assembly comes off easily during play.

Finally, the ends of the requisite flick missiles are located so far under the ship that they're hard to get to.

Overall opinion

It looks good, but playability is much lower than it should be. Pretty disappointing since with 77 pieces, there is a lot of room to add parts and still be under the general ten cents/part target. The included pieces are good and mostly larger than average, but still among the weaker designs in the second microfighters line. Would give it a 3.5 if the sale allowed.