Lego expands the Star Wars Rebels series of sets with the excellent Captain Rex's AT-TE from the series 2 episodes 'The Lost Commanders' and 'Relics Of The Old Republic'.

Box/Instructions

A good sized large kit box, not particularly deep but nice nevertheless. Fifth Brother is the figure of choice on top but next to him is a panel showing the ever present TK and the three clones.
The front shows the AT-TE in a battle scene. The back has several panels with technical blueprint style images, aft starboard side of the vehicle and 6 smaller pictures showing the play features.
There is one, solid almost A-4 sized instruction book.

Parts

The average and expected price per piece ratio for a kit of this size.
There are eight bags in the box.
Bag 1 contains Fifth Brother, Captain Rex and the base hull of the AT-TE.
Bag 2 contains central body parts for the AT-TE.
Bag 3 contains parts for the aft body, control room.
Bag 4 contains parts for the cockpit and forward hull.
Bag 5 contains all 6 legs.
Bag 6 contains all the upper side hull panels.
Bag 7 contains the Stormtrooper, Commander Wolffe and the parts for the aft landing platform.
Bag 8 contains Commander Gregor and the parts for the missile rack, forward upper hull and primary cannon.

Minifigures

The set comes with 5 minifigures, 4 of which are new and currently exclusive to this set.
Let's get the generic Stormtrooper out of the way. Nothing special here and the same as all other releases. He comes armed with a blaster.
Next we have the Inquisitor, Fifth Brother. This is a fantastic figure. The printing on the body and legs are excellent and the detailing on his shoulder armour is a nice touch. He has a double sided head with frowning and shouting faces. He's armed with the tradition Inquisitor circular double-bladed red lightsaber, the handle of which can clip onto his back. His hat is also very well sculpted.
Onto the clones.
Commander Gregor is the most casual of the 3. In sand trousers and a grey shirt, the only vestige of his Clone Armour is his belt. He comes armed with a blaster. He has a stern facial look but maybe a smiling one would've suited his more jovial character.
Commander Wolffe still has some of his Wolfpack Clone Armour. The armour wear detailing is nicely done and his face is excellently detailed. He comes armed with a blaster rifle.
Finally, we get to the man himself, Captain Rex. Like Wolffe, his armoured torso is superbly detailed and his face and expression are very nicely done. He also comes armed with a blaster rifle.

The build

Total building time, 75 minutes.
Although we've has AT-TE kits before, given the more 'customised' nature of the vehicle, there are a lot of differences in construction compared to the previous versions. The leg build is pretty much the same but I find that the central legs on this version move more freely and add to poseability for display.
The kit has a carry handle which can be raised from the centre for easy transportation and it's a good solid base model for kids to play with. Yes, there are plenty of small detailed pieces which will come off with play but if facing an AT-AT or 3, battle damage would be easy to simulate.
The interior has some fine detailing built into it as well. The kit has a good mix of basic and Technic parts, clever use of hinges and angled plates to get the look.
There are a couple of point in the build where multiple pieces have been used instead of a single piece which could've done the same job which is curious to say the least.
Yes, there are 15 stickers. I know some folks really don't like them but they are primarily used here for adding detailing. Unlike a lot of previous kits, the small control consoles are now on printed sloped tiles.

The completed model

Make no mistake, this is a great kit and definitely one for any Rebels / Rex fan. The design has captured the 'walking junkpile' look of the Clone's home very well indeed and the mix of colours adds to the appearance.
There's lots of playabilty in the kit. The cockpit hinges upwards and the control seat can slide out. The main cannon hinges with a 130 degree range and can rotate the full 360. The seat is canopy covered and there is a spring loaded missile launcher on the top. There are 3 blue missiles included.
If you lift off the upper forward hull there is a piece inside which can be lifted out and holds the other missiles for the main cannon.
The front and rear legs move a little at the upper joint and the feet can swing through the forward line. The middle legs swing quite freely on the same line and those feet can lift outwards.
The aft section houses the control room with a screen showing the joopa on the targeting screen. There is a cup, spanner and electrobinoculars stored in here too. There is a fold down ladder at the rear.
The upper landing platform has two cranes, one on either side. The arms can be moved up and down and rotate the full 360. They are not winches, simply single clip held ropes but they do the job.
There are 2 cargo containers, one with thermal detonators in and the other with 2 compact blaster pistols.
Ladders, platforms, lanterns and railings around the exterior give a nice, detailed look and for me, makes one of the best Star Wars kits I've seen in recent years.

Overall opinion

Since this was announced as a kit, it was first on my list of purchases in the current wave. This is a really great effort on behalf of the design team to bring a screen vehicle to life in Lego form. The selection of exclusive minifigures, detailing, play features and build make this an all round great purchase. Hopefully the companion early style AT-AT will be released shortly to go with it.

This set was never on my wish list but when I had the opportunity to buy it at under half price i thought ‘why not’ because even if i didn’t like the set i would still likely have a pretty good parts pack.

The Build…

…is not particularly interesting. A fairly standard technic frame onto which you build the two main parts of the hull or rooms if you like. The larger room contains a few details but is fairly sparse, whilst the second is empty until you get to the very end before finding out its purpose. Following that you build the six support legs which are all pretty identical and quite boring/repetitive. Finally you start to add the armour and finish with the main gun which is quite cool. The armour is a little disappointing - in order to fashion the different angles of the armoured shell, it uses a technique that reminds me of the UCS Sandcrawler build (which i loved) but in this set i found quite dull and dissatisfying. There are a lot of gaps and does not have the same attention to detail as the UCS set does.

Overall it is quite a solid model and can be banged around a bit, although the smaller radar dishes do have a tendency to fall off. I would also have liked if the larger parabolas/radar dishes be printed as in previous versions of the AT-TE. Some of the bright colours also seem a bit out of place to me.

The Minifigs

If you are a collector then this is a great set for you as it contains 4 unique minifigs that you won’t find in any other set. Definitely a positive aspect but I would have hope for more than 5 if I was paying full RRP.

Playability

I left this to the kids to explore, and to be honest they had a lot of fun. There are ladders for the minifigs to climb up, cranes for winching, platforms, a big gun to fire missiles…all good playable stuff. However the roof of the control room is a little tricky to remove and replace for little fingers, and they kept moaning that it wasn’t really big enough or that the minifigs got stuck inside. And hey this is an expensive model and I’ve seen them have just as much fun with lego sets for £20-30, or over a fifth of the price of this one.

Pros

4 exclusive minifigures

sturdy

playability for kids

Cons

expensive at full RRP

fairly boring build

only 5 minifigs

too many stickers - radar dishes could have been printed for more effect

Overall

So the overall opinion having now built it? It’s ok but it won’t be staying built for long - I am not really a fan. I just can’t bring myself to liking the vehicle itself. Perhaps I am too ‘classic’ in preferring the better known vehicles from the original SW saga which for me are simply more iconic - the x-wing, tie fighter or snowspeeder… I do think lego have done a decent job in creating a good likeness of the original but i just don’t like it. It’s going into a parts bin to build an AT-AT!!