I bought this set for $30.00 (original price 60.00) on clearance. The set was not worth the original and wasn't even sure it was worth 30.

Box/Instructions: The box was a medium size box and showed all of the many play features this set has. The set had a small sticker sheet with two stickes on it (control panel on the side and showing metal above the sliding doors). Also something nice was that the stickers were inside the instructions so they didn't get wreck in the box. The dimensions of the box are 38.2x26.2x5.7 cm and weighs 0.7 kg (1.54 lbs). The instruction manual is smaller to medium size and is fairly thick.

Parts: The set comes with 409 pieces. There aren't really any pieces that stand out execpt for Kylo Ren's lightsaber blade and the banner that hangs down over the door and the leaves on the tree are also a nice feature too.

Minifigures: This set comes with 5 minifigs which include Kylo Ren, Finn, Maz Kanata, x2 First Order Troopers. The First Order Troopers each come with blasters and one comes with batan used to fight Finn in the movies. Maz Kanata was a really nice addition and has a lot of detail on her. The detail on her face is amazing and Lego did a really nice job with her head. Finn comes with a blaster and a lightsaber. The jacket Finn wears that he got from has some nice detail on it. Finally there is Kylo Ren. I was actually disappointed with Kylo Ren. The helmet is way to big for his head and his facial expressions didn't look anything like him as other characters do. On the plus side he does come with his hair piece and the a torn cape. His lightsaber is also good with cross part at the bottom of the saber.

The Build: The build was easy the only part that was difficult was building the part were the walls come out. The best part of the build was when I finished the part of the building were the doors and seeing that part of the set come together.

Complete Model: When the this set was complete I was glad I had bought it. The design of the building is really nice and it captures the scene of the middle of the battle. There are many play features in this set. The tree falls down, the walls come out, a crate falls out were the building bends, and 6 black studs shoot by the doors. The two pillars were also a nice addition to the set.

Overall Opinion: My overall opinion is that the set is not worth the price of 60.00 dollars and that in my opinion the Kylo Ren figure was a disappointment. Minus those two things I believe that the rest of the set was really good from the building to the figures. This is an okay set to the for a starter and it is a great set to get if your trying to collect The Force Awakens sets. My overall opinion of the set is that it deserves a 4 star rating for it being over priced and the disappointment in the Kylo Ren figure.

I was hunting around for the Hulkbuster set when I saw this at my local departmental store at 33% off. That was a great deal for a star wars set, so I picked this set up instead. How well did it do?

Box/Instructions

Just a big box, one instruction manual with images of the play features at the back.

Build

A decent build, but with only three bags. The main door area is built with the first two bags, and the final bag makes up the left wall. The bags are bigger than usual, however.

Parts

A great parts pack. You get an exclusive "bacon" flag, two dark orange leaves, and a chock full of sand yellow parts. It comes with 20 sand yellow 1x2x3 slopes, which at the time of writing only appear in 8 other sets.

Playability

Good playability too. You can tip a tree over, slide the doors open, push a piece at the back to make black 1x1 pieces fly everywhere (simulated explosion), and turn a gear to make two large chunks of brick fall down (my favorite play feature in the set).

Minifigures

A huge part of why I bought this set. The minifigures are excellent.

Finn: great figure, nice hair (considering the height of the stud on his head) he only comes elsewhere in the $149.99 Millennium Falcon.

Kylo Ren: only comes elsewhere in his $119.99 shuttle, but that is a slightly different variant. He comes with a printed face. However, the face is not very accurate and I would have preferred a printed mask like in the shuttle version. His lightsaber is nice, and his tattered cape is cool.

Maz Kanata: nice short figure. I like her printing and hard ABS molded head, however, her facial expression is unlike that at any point in the film. Still, she's a great figure to have.

FN-2199: TRAITOR! Who could forget him? Hes a normal trooper figure, but comes with a brick built baton. I personally feel his baton is too fat and would have preferred a custom molded one.

The Other Stormtrooper: nice detailing all around, just your usual stormie.

I like how this set makes Finn and Ren more accessible. I have Finn, Rey, and Kylo all from relatively cheap sets now. I only wait for a low-budget Poe now... and old Han Solo...

Value

Here is the worst problem. The value is bad. It has around 400 pieces but costs $60. I got it on discount and I recommend you do too.

Verdict

Good, but overpriced, set. Get it on discount.

Box/Instructions

It comes in a large box. Nothing special here.

Parts

Very nice parts selection. We get a bacon flag, many parts very nice for building architecturally interesting buildings, and other cool things!

Minifigures

Odds are, if you get this set, it's for the minifigs. Because the selection is amazing!

FN-2187 (Finn): Nice detailing on Poe's jacket, a hairpiece created just for him, nice facial expressions, nice to get more African American characters!

Maz Kanata: Excellent figure overall. Love the new mold for her head. Two minor problems: 1) Her jacket is too bright of a shade of blue. It should have been sand blue. 2) Her facial expression does not look like any face she made in the movie. However, these are minor flaws, and Maz is an excellent figure.

Ben Solo (Kylo Ren): Excellent figure. Just wow! Love the new cape, and I like the new lightsaber, even if it isn't very accurate to the movie. I love his angry facial expression, but his other expression is not verh good, it just doesn't look like him. His hairpiece is the best they could have used for him, and his helmet is sadly waaay too big,it looks super weird from the front, much better from the side. I just don't use his helmet, personally. Great figure overall though!

FN-2199 (Nines): A normal First Order Stormtrooper, but with his Riot Baton, which is a nice small build, but one piece on it fits EXTREMELY loosely. This character has become quite famous, and has a backstory in a short canon story about Finn. His helmet is amazing, and the detail on all three pieces of his suit are spot-on. My only problem is the using of the "angry clone" head. He's a special, famous, trooper, at least give him a different head!

FN-3395 (yeah, I made that up): A generic trooper, the same as Nines but without the Baton.

The build

The build is amazing! It is the nicest piece of a building I have ever built! It is extremely fun to put together! Just wow! You will enjoy it!

The completed model

The completed model makes a great display. The playability will defiitely appeal to younger builders. It is very destructable, but the only functions I like, as a TFOL, are the opening doors and the falling tree, both of which work nicely. The cllapsing walls and hidden lightsaber are okay, I guess, but the exploding staircase is absolute garbage.

Overall opinion

This set has one major flaw: it's extremely overpriced. It's only got a little more than 400 pieces, and costs $60. Disappointing. Luckily, I got it on sale, and I would suggest you do the same. It is a nice set, and if you get just one TFA set, make it this one, but wait for its price to drop a bit first.

Box & Instructions

The front of the box gives an oversight of the Takodana entrance. It also shows the five minifigures that come with this set. Maz Kanata is the minifigure of choice for the 1:1 comparison. The back gives a look of al the play features, like the falling tree and collapsing wall. There's also a completely useless blueprint of the building.

The box contains three numbered bags, one instruction booklet and a small sticker sheet.

Parts & Minifigures

The parts are the least interesting of this set. Nothing new or special amongst the bricks. The minifigure selection on the other hand is quit amazing. You'll get five minifigures:

• First Order Stormtrooper (2)
• Kylo Ren (this time you'll be able to see his face)
• Finn (wearing Poe's jacket)
• Maz Kanata

The build & The completed model

The build starts off with the two First Order Troopers en the main entrance. The second bag contains Kylo Ren as well as Finn and the parts for the rest of the main build. The last bag contains the Maz Kanata minifigure and the elements for the wall and the tree.

The completed model is quit small, but looks nice.

Overall opinion

Not a challenging build at all. The model looks nice and contains enough play features for kids. The minifigure selection is really amazing. Is it worth the retail prize of 70,00 euro... I don't think so. Would I recommend it while it's on sale... defiantly!

When the initial wave of Force Awakens sets arrived in September, I was disappointed by some of the designs, and definitely disappointed by many of the price points. While a second wave of sets was inevitable for the movie - as big an event in cinemas as we've seen in a long time - it was unfortunate that many key character minifigures were limited to the most expensive sets. Battle on Takodana begins to address that issue in the second wave, and is a slight upgrade overall for The Force Awakens' line. Spoilers to follow!

Box/Instructions

One instruction book is included along with three labeled parts bags. The box itself depicts an action scene showcasing some of the built-in play features. The back of the box continues the blueprint-like layout of the TFA set segments along with showing off the weapons/accessories. I don't typically have an issue with the creative license taken with showing off different play action scenarios that depart from the source material, but one spoiler-y inclusion shows Maz Kanata seemingly "force-pushing" a First Order stormtrooper away. Maz explains in the film that she is not a Jedi. I also would have expected the melee-weapon-wielding-trooper to be shown in combat with Finn, which was a highlight of the film - but again this may have been held back to protect the film.

Parts

The set itself will likely end up being a great parts pack for me later - many sand-colored and dark grey slopes, angles, textured "brick" 1x2 pieces, etc. A handful of 2x2 plates with center knobs are always helpful. I also love any accessory parts in a set - 1 crate is included (implied to hold Luke's lightsaber - not visually similiar to the film but I like the effort). Relatively small parts pack for the price however - listed 409 pieces for $59.99 USD.

Minifigures

A lot of that price is valued around the minifigures however - along with the general markup seen on the entire Force Awakens line, due to the inevitable demand. But it is a great assortment of figures. Maz Kanata is exclusive to this set. When I saw the initial photos of the minifigure, she didn't seem quite accurate, but upon close examination once assembled, I thought it was really well done, especially the head molding.

I've been wanting to get my hands on a Finn minifigure since the first wave was released, and even more since the movie came out - what a wonderful new hero! Previously he had only appeared in the 75105-1 Millennium Falcon release in September, which was the most expensive of an extremely expensive first wave. I don't need another Falcon, and while it's unfortunate Finn didn't wind up in a small set (~$15-25 range), this is a workable improvement considering the other figures involved. Finn looks great, featuring what appears to be the same outfit (Poe's jacket) and two-sided facial expressions as his first appearance. Most important is the hair piece - after years of under-represented darker-skinned characters in Lego, with inappropriate hair piece assignments, we have a piece that is accurate both to John Boyega's appearance in the film and accurate to hair textures seen in the real world for many people of African descent. I hope this trend will continue to represent many different ethnicities.

Kylo Ren makes what I believe is his second appearance in the Star Wars line, after 75104-1, Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle (another massively expensive TFA set and a disappointing re-creation). This is a new version of the character, featuring both his outer helmet and his actual face and hair, depending on how you want to display him. The bags under his eyes go a little too far in cartoonishly representing him as an evil/dark-side character (after seeing the film, he's a much more complex character than that), but it is otherwise an excellent representation of Adam Driver's portrayal, and will fit in very well to any TFA or Star Wars MOC scene you are creating. Additionally, the new crossguard lightsaber blade does an excellent job bringing a Lego version of the new weapon to life.

Two First Order stormtroopers are included, and they are excellent, with the updated helmet design exactly evoking the movie version, and one of the troopers featuring the melee weapon used to spar with Finn. I just wish there was an easy way to get dozens of these guys! Many of the other sets in the line and even the new battle packs feature other variations which are also interesting, but make it harder to build an army of just standard stormtroopers. A minor complaint, really. The heads seem to be the same as the ongoing clone-trooper heads, which seems to bother a lot of other people but doesn't bother me - I'm never going to be displaying them without their helmets.

The build

At just 409 pieces, this was a quick build, with the main door section and main wall section joined at the end. There are clever, space-efficient choices made in using Technic elements to provide the playable features - the crate that falls out of the side of the wall, the tree that falls down. However, the Technic function used to knock the top sections of the wall off (as if exploded) is controlled by a gear that really does not give enough leverage to push the sections off easily. A plate inserted below with a loose connection, able to be "see-sawed" underneath instead of the Technic assembly, would have been enough to make the sections go flying off.

Only two stickers are included which provide some nice detail, but are not game-changers for the overall look of the set in case you have a strong preference otherwise. One disappointment in the detailing is the ridiculous "bacon" flag posted above the door. Any number of solid-colored, non-detailed flags could have been included here to get the same idea across, and honestly three flags of varying sizes would have gotten the job done. But for now it's a hanging piece of uncooked bacon - absolutely silly. May be an easy MOC fix.

The completed model

Overall the model evokes the main entrance and wall designs of Maz Kanata's castle really accurately, and the play features make the set worthwhile for kids to create many different scenes. The visual of the angled entrance and sliding doors is outstanding and makes you wish that it led directly into Maz's castle! With the way this section is constructed in the back, a MOC of the interior could easily connect to the entrance section, if you were inclined to create it. Maybe in a few years we'll see a set depicting this interior, but it's not a surprise it was not included here (and would have needlessly increased the price).

This set is a step-up in re-creating scenes from TFA, no doubt assisted by having more prep materials to work with in the design stages (as opposed to the clearly-rushed designs of many sets in the first wave). It feels a lot like that castle exterior from the movie, which is compliment for a set of this size. It is definitely more geared towards playability than display, and overall I think that works well - the minifigures included and the "wreckage" that can be wrought make it an easy battle to re-create with or without other sets in the range.

Overall opinion

This set gets a downgrade, along with nearly all TFA sets thus far, for the price point. It's not egregious, but the set really should have been closer to the $49.99 USD range. Still, there's value here - the minifigures are excellent (and in Maz and Kylo's case - exclusive), and with heroes and villians included it's easy to create any number of play scenarios.

If you've held out like me and skipped most of the sets in the first wave, this is a great entry point in collecting some key characters in TFA. I look forward to adding them to other Star Wars MOC scenes, or maybe expanding on this castle foundation and creating a larger depiction of Maz's cantina.