We've seen this exact model of ship many times in the past, with the two separate "runs" boiling down to "three of the same build in different colors" and "enough differences to warrant multiple sets beyond a single minifig," but this time LEGO took the cost-effective and (admittedly) smart approach of "just do a single one."

This set currently exists as a standalone piece: no accompanying trifighters, vulture droids, booster ring, or other ARC-170 fighters to go with it as a play feature, perhaps highlighting the necessity of those "recolor" sets from earlier lines. Despite this, the quality of this single model makes it a fantastic display piece.

The blasters this ship comes equipped with are some of the most effective blasters I've seen in LEGO, with a simple push on the bullets launching them across the room (heads up: I was only able to find them after because my cat would run to their landing spot. Don't shoot the bullets in cluttered areas).

The minifigs included in this set are pretty standard: Anakin with his headset is a nice unique print, and R2 is the same model we keep seeing every time, complete with his tendency to be printed crooked, which really irks me. It's a good thing one of my many R2's came out perfect.

Overall, this is a nice set with some nice stickers and prints, even if it does feel just a bit like I can build it myself with parts I already own.

For all of the flack they drew at the time of release, the Star Wars prequels have aged remarkably well, with Revenge of the Sith being named as many fans' favourite movie of the franchise. But love them or loathe them, one undeniable thing about the prequels was that they gave us some fantastic looking vehicles, particularly from the Clone Wars era, including the Jedi Interceptor as seen in the opening battle of Episode III.

This is the third Lego incarnation of the yellow Jedi Interceptor as flown by Anakin Skywalker, but with this being the only version I've built personally I have no point of comparison, so will be assessing this set purely on its own merits.

With an RRP of £25 and coming in at 248 pieces, this is pretty average as far as value for money goes. However, possibly due to so many fans already having a previous version of this particular ship, the price seemed to have sharply dropped upon release, and it's frequently seen on the likes of eBay brand new for just under £20, making it excellent value.

The build is split across 3 bags, and as you'd expect from the design of the ship there is some repetition to be found. Bag 1 gives you the minifigures and the cockpit, and bags 2 and 3 are the two wings, so are mirror builds of eachother. As an adult, this took me around 40 minutes to assemble, and I can't imagine younger builders taking much more than 1 1/2 hours to have their Interceptor ready to take flight.

It's certainly a satisfying build, taking shape nicely in quick time. As with many Star Wars ships, the canopy is a single moulded and printed piece to give the Interceptor its iconic look which would have been difficult to achieve with multiple bricks. Otherwise there aren't any particularly unusual or unique pieces involved in the build, making it a quick and simple job.

There are a few stickers on this set, and while there are more sticker-heavy sets out there, this does feel like at least a couple of them could have been replaced with printed pieces. Would it really have been that much trouble to print a Republic logo onto a 1x1 round tile? Because applying that sticker was a little fiddly!

Once assembled, Anakin's Jedi Interceptor is a really nice little ship, and certainly looks the part. The build is sturdy, so should survive younger fans putting it through its paces. Anakin fits snugly into the cockpit, even though he does have to lean back at a slightly awkward angle in order to close the canopy, and of course R2-D2 fits into the astromech slot on the wing. There are two spring-loaded shooters tucked under the cockpit, which only protrude slightly from the back of the ship for firing. The wings and fins can each be adjusted. And there's even a clip subtly placed under the wings to store Anakin's lightsaber while he's flying. All in all, a really nicely designed model.

Minifigure-wise, this is where the set becomes a little controversial. R2-D2 is R2-D2, there's nothing special or different about him, but of course you can't have Anakin's Jedi Interceptor without him. However, Anakin is the issue for many collectors. While he is a nice minifigure with a good level of detail all across the board, Lego have reused the torso and legs from the 75269 Duel on Mustafar set, meaning he has the dirt and burn marks from his fight with Obi-Wan... which doesn't happen until much later in the movie. At this point, his outfit should be pretty much spotless. As the first Anakin of my collection I wasn't put off by this, but it is a bit of an oversight on Lego's part, and has caused some frustration among AFOLs.

So overall, I thought it was a fantastic set. Yes, it is another Anakin's Jedi Interceptor (at least it's not as regular as his son's landspeeder!), and the question could be asked as to why we didn't get Obi-Wan's instead, which has only been released once to-date. And yes, some of the stickers really should have been printed pieces. And yes, we have the issues with the innacurate Anakin minifigure. But it's a clean build, sturdy, playable, displayable, and is great value for money if you have a good look around.

A worthy addition to the Grand Army of the Republic.

I honestly wanted this set for quite a while. I always loved how the ship looked since I grew up with Ep 3. I also missed out on this set in 2014, so hearing that this ship would return, I had to get (plus I got Obi-Wan's in 2016, so I wanted to complete the duo). The ship looks great when completed, one thing that I liked was that it came with a piece that holds the lightsaber, so now I won't have to put somewhere else. I was also surprised the flick missiles are made differently (ex: I dropped one, and I did with another I owned, and they sounded different). Figures are okayish, I'm glad I finally own an R2-D2, and another Anakin is nice. Though, I felt it was a missed oppurtunity to give him is normal look instead of the Mustafar printing on the torso. But other than that, I'm very happy with this set, it's very helpful for those who missed out on the 2014 one and a really cool looking ship.

the build is outstanding, even though it is almost a straight up re-release of the 2014 version, it's still good. The minifigures however could use some work... we're paying $30 for two rather lousy figures. I'm not even going to get started on the anakin torso fiasco. I wish it could at least include a chancellor palpatine from the start of episode three or a super battle droid.

thanks for reading!

First, apologies for the title; I'm sure it's everyone's first thought, but I couldn't pass up the chance! Okay, onto the review:

I feel like the community is in a weird position with this set; it follows from a rendition of this craft released in 2014, which is admittedly near identical, and as a result it has been shunned by many. However, I find myself in a different boat. It was only during lock down in which I discovered my love of Star Wars, thus I only owned 1 or 2 sets from the theme before this year. That 2014 set is no longer available in stores, so for the purposes of this review, it didn't have any negative effect on my overall personal opinions. I actually really like this set, and it was one of the few sets I've ever bought on release from the LEGO store, without waiting for a sale. It even won me over in competition with the 501st set, and any LEGO Star Wars fan will know that's high praise! I mean, it's helped by the fact that it contains a minifigure version of the second most iconic prequel's character (behind Jar Jar Binks of course), but beyond that it has plenty of merits to be explored...

Building experience

As a MOC builder, I find building sets to be a relaxing break from all the tinkering that comes with designing a model, so I usually rate building experience highly. Obviously the wings are near identical, so not a lot of variety there, but the cockpit goes together nicely and the opening cover fits on satisfyingly. Really should have been a 5/5, but the stickers hold it back; more specifically, one of the stickers. That 1x1 round sticker is just cruel; not only would it be easy for LEGO to print, it's an absolute nightmare to put on! The panels are less annoying, because at least they have nice straight edges to line up. Still, I managed to get my stickers on alright, so I can't rate it any lower than a 4 overall.

Completed model

Personally, I really like the look of this craft in-universe, and the LEGO version is aesthetically pleasing too. I'm glad they chose to do Anakin's craft, because the yellow works really nicely here. Nothing too fancy if I'm being honest, but all the lines blend cleanly into one another; if we're talking specific details, the underwing turrets work nicely for me, as well as the printing on the cockpit pieces. I'm usually a displayer of sets, but if you're so inclined, it's at a perfect scale for swooshability, and the designers have sneakily placed a clip on the underside of each wing for lightsaber storage. This allows Anakin to sit in the pilot's seat and close the cockpit without him burning through any of the controls! I was expecting something bigger, but overall, it looks wonderful, and would fit into any LEGO collection, Star Wars or otherwise.

Minifigures

Anakin Skywalker - others have already pointed out that this figure is re-used from set 75269 Duel on Mustafar, which is canonically incorrect and pretty lazy of LEGO. However, if you don't look too closely, this figure is a perfectly good representation of the iconic character. The face printing with headset works well with Anakin's long hair, which is a really nice piece for someone who hasn't owned this figure previously. I wish he had a happy expression, rather than just serious or outright angry, but if you've seen the prequels, you'd know what kind of person Anakin is, so the lack of happier facial expressions is an acceptable omission. The lightsaber is also appreciated.

R2-D2 - What can I really say about this figure? I only own 4 Star Wars sets, and this is already the second one to contain him! He looks perfectly fine, and he is definitely necessary to the set, being able to sit in the wing and help control the ship, but he's nothing special.

The 3 Ps

• Price - £24.99 is a bit steep, but if I'd waited a few weeks I probably would've been able to get if for closer to £20. As mentioned earlier, the ship felt a bit small for a price that got me a full on playset with 4 minifigures from the Ninjago theme. Anyway, I'd recommend waiting for a sale, especially if you already own the 2014 version
• Playability - I've already said that the ship is swooshable, and additional features include folding out wing flaps, room for R2 to sit embedded into the left wing, spring-loaded shooters & an opening cockpit with room for one minifigure. Plenty for the kids (or creative adults)
• Parts - a few upgrades from 2014, such as the 2x2 wedge plates, alongside some nice yellow parts for the MOC builders. That cockpit is nicely done, and a blessing that it's not a sticker! I don't know if you'd be able to turn a profit on Bricklink, but if you needed to steal any parts for a MOC, you could temporarily tear down this set and it would do the job

Conclusion

If I had to summarise this set, I'd say it was the perfect birthday gift for a young Star Wars fan, and a perfectly passable rendition of the craft it's trying to represent. Slightly off-topic, so you can leave now if you want, but I'm glad that I built this set, because it's finally got me back into writing reviews after months of not building sets. It feels counterintuitive, but because I haven't been building MOCs after going back to school, I've had to get my LEGO dose in with shorter chunks, and that's come in the form of reducing my mini backlog despite having a larger workload to deal with. Anyway, I guess that means more reviews will potentially follow, especially with my birthday coming up in a couple of days, so if you enjoyed this one, I've got 5 more helpful ones (and a few less helpful ones...) that you can peruse at any time.