I have always been around the medical field in my life. Both my parents are nurses and continue to work in the medical field in management positions, my sister works a front desk position at a clinic, and I currently am working a front desk job for a hospital Radiology department to help fund my way through college as I work towards my mechanical engineering degree. No matter what I try, it seems I just can't escape the near omnipresent shadow of the healthcare industry in my life.

That is probably why the brief medical scenes in Echo Base in Irvin Kershner's The Empire Strikes Back have stuck with me over the years. Something about it is so familiar to the constant presence of hospitals and clinics growing up; yet the strange droids, the bacta tank and the unnatural cleanliness of the medical bay in Empire is so alien at the same time. It really speaks to the vision of George Lucas how such a familiar sight became so unique and fantastical in the Star Wars universe. Star Trek may have had it's Dr. Bones a country doctor in space; but Lucas's world was more foreign to reality; with the blank faces of medical droids attending to patients with an eerie scientific precision. Its no surprise that the Star Wars Universe would return to clinical scenes again in the future, such as when Darth Vader was first encased in his black armor at the end of Revenge of the Sith, Finn waking up in a clunky Bacta suit in The Last Jedi, or even the discovery of hidden Republic soldiers in a hidden clinic room on the planet Taris in the video game Knights of the Old Republic. In that sense, this set succeeds in conjuring up those memories.

Minifigures

Luke Skywalker; this variant of Luke is unique to this set. While a previous version of him in his Bacta Tank outfit was available in 2011; this figure is a complete update to that older one. His doublesided head shows both the rebreather he wore inside the tank, and the other shows him awake after leaving the tank. My favorite subtle detail is the slight purple hue under his right eye on both sides of the head, showing off the black eye the wampa gave him earlier in the film. He sure looks strong enough to 'pull the ears of a gundark' with it!

Princess Leia; Remember that UCS Hoth set from a few years back which mysteriously lacked Leia? This figure seems ready to rectify that situation! Leia wears her hair in a high bun in this set. The face is doublesided and looks oddly familiar to me like I have seen it on other figures before, but I can't place where. The white body and the torso printing all look really good, and rather screen accurate. EDIT: A few other reviewers online pointed out this torso print was previously exclusive to the UCS Falcon, so its great to see it here in a cheap set!

2-1B; One of the two droids in this set; 2-1B has been made in Lego before but hasn't shown up in a while. For the most part he is rather similar to previous releases; but since I haven't gotten him before I am glad to finally have him.

FX-7; I loved the FX series droids as a kid; especially with memories of standing next to one trying to heal my health bar in the classic Battlefront game series. We have gotten an FX-6 droid before in both renditions of Darth Vader's transformation... however this is the first FX-7 we have gotten. I love the brick built methods here to assemble the figure; and it looks great in the medical bay next to the Bacta tank! Nice bit of continuity to, since the FX-7 is about the same height as the FX-6 from the Darth Vader set; they really do look like variant models based on similar designs.

The Build

Lego Star Wars has been doing a lot of small $30 sets recently, and a few fans pointed out this set does bear a resemblance to the recently released Jurrassic Park set from a few months back. With that said, I am personally loving these cheap location based set Star Wars is beginning to give us! Building the set is prety straight forward though, mostly vertical brick stacking with just a few SNOT bricks used for detailing.

The Finished Model

Once assembled, the full medical bay scene is revealed. The main build is a single, anglular wall on the back end of the set, seperating the front portion of the medical bay from the back. A new angled door frame piece I am not familiar with is used to seperate the two rooms. On the back side there is a rotating patient's chair. It honestly looks like a dentists office here, and images of Steve Martin's character from Little Shop of Horrors dancing around this chair with an unfortunate minifigure strapped into it seem to come to mind while looking at it... There are a few clips and cabinets nearby to store the surgical scissors and needles in the medical bay.

The front end though is the main focal point of the rest of the set. The bacta tank is pretty imposing, and can slide back to open and allow the Luke figure to be placed inside. A rotating dias for FX-7 is next to the tank, allowing the figure to easily be rotated alongside the tank. On the other side is a sink and a storage cabinet. In the middle is a bed pod built into the wall... This part of the model looks great with its simplicity and sharp angles; but... I can't unsee the most strange kiss in movie history looking at the included Luke and Leia figures alongside the bed... since I am pretty sure this is the place were 'Luke kissed his sister!' in the film. Although this does raise the idea there is a missing character in this set, it would have been great to have had Han Solo as an included figure with a unique double sided face of disgust for having had to witness that (again Han would have been a great inclusion for the obligatory "scruffy looking nerf herder" argument that happened then to).

Conclusion

This is a pretty fun set. I think it has enough play features alongside its recognizable appearance to make it a worthwhile addition for every Star Wars fan. While I do think the set could have been improved with the addition of Han Solo, at the $30 price range this is pretty comparable in content to other recent sets. The iconic scene of the Bacta Tank with FX-7 is worth it alone in my opinion. All in all, its a great little Hoth set and a nice way celebrate the Empire Strikes Back.