Get this set for your kids and I can guarantee they will be asking you if Jawas are bad guys. I’ll leave that to you to figure out an answer, but I will tell you about the set.

Minifigures

It’s a battle pack, of course you are buying it for the minifigures, but wow do you get some hard to find ones. Jawas of course are the first Tatooine residents that we meet and while they play a very small role in the first movie, without them there would be no Star Wars. So getting 2 of them is awesome, it’s really all you need in order to pick up droids and sell them. You also get a R2 unit, which is very important for playing with this set by itself, but since you probably already have a bunch you might be a bit disappointed you don’t get another sand person. The sand person is great, fantastic detail and a cool weapon, but it sure would have been nice to get more than one.

The Vehicle

No, it’s not a sand crawler, but it has a very similar aesthetic, and quite honestly, is better for play. For all practical purposes it is a sand crawler without walls or a roof, meaning it is very easy to seat your Jawas and R2 unit. It is more realistic of a vehicle than a microfighters version would be (not that I wouldn’t mind a microfighter sand crawler). The crane of course makes it fun to play with, but your kid may have a hard time if they pick up the droid backwards with it, but they’ll figure it out easily enough. It involves a little bit of technic but my 5 year old had no trouble building it.

Overall

I highly recommend this set. You can’t have Star Wars without Tatooine, and this gives you some very crucial characters to the start of the story. Plus, you are probably drowning in storm troopers and Chewie by now, so it is very refreshing to get some new, very unique characters at a reasonable price. There is a new droid escape pod microfighters set, and I would imagine that if you combine it with this set you could have a lot of fun. So go buy the set, and maybe ask the cashier if Jawas are bad guys!

So its not by any means an amazing set, but the minifigs are what makes it worth it. Ever since I got my hands on the Sandcrawler I've always kept my eyes out for Jawas and Tusken Raiders, the only thing that might have made this set better would have been a Bantha!

This is the set I was most looking forward to of the first wave of 2018 Star Wars line and it doesn't disappoint.

Packaging & Instructions

Serious collectors will dig the more solid card in the box's construction and the fact that it is tape sealed instead of a punch-hole. There is a nice action shot on the front and the back shows off all the features and shows a little play scenario. The instructions are nothing special but they do their job, the inclusion of a small "catalogue" in the back is neat but the book was crinkled up in the bottom of the box and that was not.

Build & Parts

Not much to say really about the build, pretty standard 'stack some plates then add detail' type affair but the target audience here is kids. From an "is this a good parts pack?" perspective, the answer is generally a no. However I think there is good potential for making MOCs from the parts included to increase play value.

Minifigures

Well they're great. Possibly the most unique point of this battle pack is that because there is essentially three differnt factions, there is litterally a battle in the pack! Jawas are hard to come by generally but here's two! They look great too and each feature a different torso and while the inclusion if a material cloak for each would have been welcome, their absence certainly doesn't detract from the set. The Tuskan Raider is thoroughly excellent with a faithful print and near-perfect head design, his weapon is okay but I would have personally preferred a rifle but maybe the staff makes this a fairer fight? The astromech, let's face it, is just R2 with a red head but so is the film version, regardless, he's great.

Model

This vehicle is, as far as I know, non-cannon but it is believably a Jawa vehicle. The overall look is pretty faithful to the Jawa aesthetic and the crane works well. The technic lift arms on the side represent treads where functional versions would look oversized and weird, I would have welcomed some functional wheels hidden underneath to increase play value but that's just me.

Overall

This is a sweet little set with bucket loads of play value, great features, excellent figures and even the stud shooters don't suck here! Everyone needs this set!

By itself, this set is a bit pointless as an opposing battlepack to the bad guys. However, if you own either of the two Sandcrawlers, this is a pretty awesome set to compliment that ship as you can easily fit it inside the ramp area and add all but the Tusken Raider to the bigger set.

The picture really doesn't do this set justice because it has lines that flow like a mini-me Sandcrawler and if you're a fan of Ep. IV, it brings back a bit of that nostagia. The inclusion of the R2-like robot is a great addition to any droid collection.

While this set is certainly not a great battle pack, it is a great little add-on if you have the UCS Sandcrawler. I doubt many people are building jawa or tusken armies, and so it's not a battle pack one would want for that use.

For those with the UCS Sandcrawler, however, this is a nice set to have. It rounds out the Jawa numbers you get with that set. I couldn't go back to having just the jawas the UCS set comes with as it leaves the Sandcrawler feeling a bit underutilized. Having two more Jawas allows me to display a couple dealing with Luke and Lars, one or two driving and a couple more throughout the interior.

I don't play with lego sets, as I am 28, but I do like having extra figures to round out my larger sets. With the exception of the recently released Cantina, many large sets feel slightly underpopulated. A set like this feels tailor made to compensate for that issue.

Bottom line...if you have the UCS Sandcrawler, there is no reason NOT to get this battle pack. If you don't, then there's little reason to get it.