Lego bricks special forces
Обновлено: 16.05.2024
On this page you will find information about location and ways of obtaining of ten minikits and a red LEGO brick in the additional mission titled "Trouble Over Taul". You should find these secrets in the free roaming mode. Additionally, you should read the information available below from which you will learn how to properly prepare for the search.
Important information
You should look for secrets in this mission in the free roaming mode, after you unlock a wide variety of playable characters. Only part of the collectibles described below can be obtained while completing this level for the first time (in story mode).
Most of the secrets in this location can be obtained by using characters unlocked by completing the main story of the game. The only unique character which you must unlock is the one with a flame thrower. You can buy a Flametrooper after opening the window with the list of available characters.
Minikit number 2 from the below list requires you to destroy droids located in various places on the corvette. Remember that you can easily pass by a droid and very frequently the game won't allow you to return to previously visited areas. It is best to follow our walkthrough available on this page. Here the secrets are described in order in which you find them.
Minikits 3-6 and the red LEGO brick can be found in two bonus rooms which are unlocked by one common Resistance terminal. They are on two different floors of the corvette, so make sure you visit both areas (entering the ladder up or riding down it).
In addition to obtaining secrets, you can try obtaining the True Jedi title. You will be awarded with it if you manage to collect at least 60000 studs.
Minikit 1/10
Special requirements: a character that can destroy silver objects (for example Chewbacca)
Location and how to unlock: Minikit can be obtained once the blaster battle at the beginning of the level ends. On the left side there are silver door. You can destroy it as Chewbacca or any other character equipped with thermal detonators. Once the door are destroyed, crush the small chests in order to reveal the secret.
Minikit 2/10 - droid 1
Special requirements: none
Location and how to unlock: Minikit can be obtained in story mode or in the free roaming mode. In order to obtain this secret you must destroy four droids located in various places on the corvette. The first droid can be found while traveling through the starting corridor, soon after winning the blaster battle.
Minikit 3/10
Special requirements: a character that can use Resistance terminals (for example Chewbacca)
Location and how to unlock: Minikit is located in a separate area to which you can get after completing the blaster battle at the beginning of the level. Find the terminal shown on the above picture. Members of the Resistance, like Chewbacca and Han Solo, can use it. Complete the simple minigame in order to open the door to the hatch.
Behind the newly opened door there is a ladder. What's important, you can use it to get to upper or to lower level of the ship. First explore the upper floor - start climbing on the ladder. Once you reach the new place, go to the right and notice the chair on which you can sit. You will have to complete a simple minigame by shooting down five asteroids of your choosing.
Minikit 4/10
Special requirements: a character that can use the Resistance terminal (for example Chewbacca), a character equipped with flamethrower (for example Flametrooper)
Location and how to unlock: Minikit is in the same secret area as the one described above. It means that you can access it by hacking into Resistance terminal and using the ladder to reach the upper floor. Go to the right and find a large ice cube. Use a character with flamethrower to melt it. This will provide you a minikit.
Minikit 5/10
Special requirements: a character that can use the Resistance terminals (for example Chewbacca), a character that can use the Dark Side of the Force (for example Darth Vader)
Location and how to unlock: You can look for this minikit while searching for the two minikits described previously. You must start with using the Resistance terminal and unlocking the ladder. The only difference is that this time you must use the ladder to get to the lower level and enter a new secret room. On the left from the ladder there is an interactive part of the wall on which you can use the Dark Side of the Force. This will allow you to obtain the minikit.
Minikit 6/10
Special requirements: a character that can use the Resistance terminals (for example Chewbacca), a character that can use the Force (for example Luke or Darth Vader)
Location and how to unlock: Minikit can be obtained in the same area as the fifth one - in the lower room to which you can get after using the Resistance terminal. Go further to the left and use the Light or the Dark Side of the Force on the food machine.
Red LEGO brick
Reward for obtaining the brick: Regenerating Combat Bar
Special requirements: a character that can use the Resistance terminals (for example Chewbacca), a character that is resistant to low temperatures (for example BB-8 or Quinar)
Location and how to unlock: The red LEGO brick is located in the same area as the minkits 5 and 6 described above. It's the lower room to which you can get after using the Resistance terminal. Go as far to the left as possible. You will reach an area with very low temperature. You can reach the red brick by using BB-8 or Quinar (character that must be bought for studs).
Minikit 7/10
Special requirements: none
Location and how to unlock: Minikit can be obtained in story mode or in the free roaming mode. Move away from the terminal you used for obtaining all secrets since minikit number 3. Go to the right, attack the new enemies and take interest in the new terminal at the wall. Select any droid to use it (for example 0-MR1 who is available by default). Completing the minigame (green, red, yellow sign) will unlock access to the small stash with the secret.
Minikit 2/10 - droid 2
The second droid is traveling through the corridor to which you can get after using the terminal and putting the fire out. It is hard to miss it.
Minikit 8/10
Special requirements: none
Location and how to unlock: Minikit can be obtained in story mode or in the free roaming mode. Keep traveling through the ship until a new blaster battle starts. Once it does, switch to Captain Phasma or any other character with heavy blaster. Ignore the enemies and focus only on shooting the golden object visible away which is marked on the picture. Destroying it is awarded with a minikit.
Minikit 9/10
Special requirements: none
Location and how to unlock: Minikit can be obtained in story mode or in the free roaming mode. Go to the bottom part of the screen after winning the second blaster battle. Notice that part of the left wall is cracked. You can break through the wall when playing as FN-2199 or any other character able to break through walls (for example Grummgar). The secret is in the stash behind the wall.
Minikit 2/10 - droid 3
The third droid can be destroyed soon after the second blaster battle. Walk to the next area of the ship. The droid will be floating on the right side. Its precise location is shown on the picture.
Minikit 10/10
Special requirements: a character that can use the Force (for example Luke or Darth Vader)
Location and how to unlock: Minikit can be obtained after completing the second blaster battle and moving to the area with the third droid described above. Switch to any character that can use the Force, position yourself in the place shown on the picture and use the Force to "summon" the Minikit floating high on the left side.
Minikit 2/10 - droid 4
The last, fourth droid is on captain's deck, the last location explored on the corvette. Destroy it before you use the binoculars.
Intercept the enemy with the impressive First Order Special Forces TIE fighter. The unmistakable shape of this iconic starfighter signifies the military might of the First Order, and features a 2-minifigure cockpit that opens from the top and bottom, 2 spring-loaded shooters and a rotating antenna for homing in on enemy starships. With this great model, you can recreate the epic excitement of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Includes 4 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: 2 First Order TIE Fighter Pilots, First Order Officer and a First Order Crew.
- Includes 4 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: 2 First Order TIE Fighter Pilots, First Order Officer and a First Order Crew
- Features iconic design, 2-minifigure opening cockpit, 2 spring-loaded shooters and a rotating antenna
- Weapons include 3 blaster pistols
- Accessories include 2 helmets
- Open the cockpit and load up the crew
- Rotate the antenna and track the enemy
- Load the shooters and prepare to fire!
- Iconic design
- Recreate fantastic scenes from Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- The perfect addition to any LEGO® Star Wars collection
- Measures over 9” (23cm) high, 7” (20cm) long and 7” (18cm) wide
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LEGO System A/S, DK-7190 Billund, Denmark. Must be 18 years or older to purchase online. LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure, DUPLO, LEGENDS OF CHIMA, NINJAGO, BIONICLE, MINDSTORMS and MIXELS are trademarks and copyrights of the LEGO Group. ©2022 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved. Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Use.
This is a story about a multibillion-dollar international conglomerate, arms manufacturers, a German peace group and renegades who make miniaturized weapons systems out of small shops.
The conglomerate is LEGO, with worldwide revenues of $6.2 billion in 2019 from its toys, retail stores, theme parks and even movie rights. Its toy sets -- which are intended to "inspire the builders of tomorrow," according to the company's mission statement -- run the gamut, from skyscrapers to boats, police stations to castles. There's even a kit to make Rome's famous Colosseum. Nothing from the real world, it seems, is off limits. That is, except for anything modeled on today's military.
"We have a long-standing policy of not creating sets which feature real military vehicles that are currently in use," Ryan Greenwood, a spokesman for the company, said in an email to CNN.
But during the summer, the Danish company released a set for the V-22 Osprey, a tiltrotor aircraft manufactured by Boeing and Bell Helicopter Textron that is only used by the American and Japanese militaries.
The kit, set to launch under LEGO's vehicle-focused Technic brand, depicted a search and rescue version of the Osprey. But it drew a quick, harsh protest from the German Peace Society -- United War Resisters (DFG-VK in German), an almost 130-year-old anti-war group.
The V-22 Osprey, the group said, has been involved in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, Yemen and Syria. In a press release criticizing LEGO over the model, the DFG-VK then threw the toymaker's own words from a decade earlier right back at it:
Lego debuts new sets for the young at heart featuring Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, Star Wars and Iron Man
"The basic aim is to avoid realistic weapons and military equipment that children may recognize from hot spots around the world and to refrain from showing violent or frightening situations when communicating about LEGO products. At the same time, the purpose is for the LEGO brand not to be associated with issues that glorify conflicts and unethical or harmful behavior," the peace group quoted from a 2010 LEGO report.
LEGO quickly pulled the motorized aircraft model from its inventory in late July. The few sets that had already hit store shelves made their way into the hands LEGO enthusiasts and onto internet trading sites at prices as high as $1,000 for a set that would've retailed at around $120.
US Air Force V-22 Ospreys take off from a base in New Mexico. Credit: U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Markus Maier
Greenwood, the company spokesperson, refused to comment further on why LEGO changed its mind on the Osprey model or why it was produced in the first place.
But LEGO canceling its Osprey set hasn't stopped fans from creating their own versions. In a video interview from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Dan Siskind pulled up a large model of the aircraft to the camera. Although built from LEGO pieces, this one is bigger and, arguably, even more elaborate and life-like. He spun its tiltrotor propellers in a hand-held simulated flight.
Siskind is a former "master builder," the top LEGO designers who assemble the models you find displayed in stores. He is now part of a subculture that unites adult fans of LEGO (or AFOLs as they are known) and military buffs.
Through his company, Brickmania Toyworks, the 51-year-old takes the iconic bricks and turns them into custom military building kits spanning eras and multiple wars.
An arms bazaar for AFOLs, his inventory includes a US F-16 fighter ($425), a Russian T-80BVM main battle tank ($340) and even a Phalanx close-in weapon system, the rapid-fire Gatling gun the US Navy puts on its warships to knock out incoming threats like missiles or speedboats ($175).
There are also historical options, such as a Vietnam War-era Soviet MiG-21 fighter, a World War II Japanese A6M2 Zero or British Spitfire Mk I fighter plane, a US M4A3 Sherman or German Panzer IV Ausf G tank, or a World War I British biplane, all priced around $200.
The parts are almost all genuine, made with new-condition LEGO bricks. But while the Danish company does not endorse its products being used for these purposes, it tolerates the practice, Siskind said.
He's nonetheless blunt in describing his job. "It's just stuff we've taken that weren't supposed to be made into military things, (that) we've made into military things," Siskind explained. "Ordinary LEGO bricks just used in a way they were never intended to be used."
Because he isn't allowed to purchase bricks directly from LEGO for his military sets, sourcing is "one big, continuous scavenger hunt" that requires his staff to comb through Walmarts, Targets and toy stores for discounts on original sets. The company also uses the website Bricklink, a kind of eBay for LEGO parts, where specific bricks can be bought and sold.
The AC-130 Spooky II gunship model, made using LEGO bricks and other aftermarket parts, from Brickmania Toyworks in Minneapolis. Credit: Courtesy Brickmania Toyworks
All the parts are brought to Brickmania's Minneapolis headquarters, where they are broken down and reallocated to the new kits, including its most expensive design: a Lockheed Martin AC-130 "Spooky II" gunship that contains more than 5,200 pieces and sells for $3,755.
In real life, an AC-130 gunship is one of the most terrifying aircraft imaginable. Armed with 40mm and 105mm cannons and a 25mm Gatling gun, it can devastate an area in seconds, earning it the nickname the "Angel of Death" in military circles.
When the company made the first 25 models available, they sold out in five hours. A second batch then went in the same amount of time, Siskind said.
While Siskind will sell you a military kit, his company also encourages AFOLs to produce their own creations, sponsoring regular contests at Brickmania's flagship store in Minneapolis. Among the rules: They must be military or war-themed, bear no Nazi symbols, display no excessive gore and are not of the sci-fi or fantasy genres.
Global community
People entering the competitions should probably be thankful that Ralph Savelsberg lives thousands of miles away in the Netherlands -- because the 45-year-old Dutch builder's portfolio of LEGO-based military creations would likely be easy winners.
There's a Vietnam-era US Navy patrol boat, a Cold War-era intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), an Iranian F-14 fighter, an M-21 reconnaissance jet and a massive and stunning recreation of a B-52 bomber, the mainstay of the US Air Force's bomber fleet for more than six decades.
Dutch LEGO builder Ralph Savelsberg shows off a model he made of a US Air Force B-52 bomber with a 5-foot wingspan. Credit: Courtesy Ralph Savelsberg
"This is just a hobby. I do get a lot of requests, but I always disappoint them; I have no interest whatsoever in having to deal with customers.
"Furthermore, making plans or instructions is no fun, so I don't actually have any plans for most of my models," he said in an email.
What he does enjoy is getting together with LEGO military builders from around the world at various conventions, where they share creations and even make custom ones to commemorate anniversaries.
For this year's Brickfair Virginia, Savelsberg and a few dozen military builders planned a display themed on the Cold War, including his ICBM. The event was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but Savelsberg plans to return next year.
LEGO-style military models on display at Brickfest Japan 2019 in Kobe. Credit: Courtesy The Brothers Brick / Edwinder Singh
In 2019, he attended Japan Brickfest, Asia's largest AFOL gathering, which featured a section for military items by some of the 270 builders displaying their work.
Those builders, who came from places like Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan as well as Japan, likely represent just a fraction of those pursuing the hobby, Savelsberg said.
"I suspect that the people who come to events represent the tip of the iceberg. For every builder who is willing and able to travel to events, there might be two dozen teenagers who rarely get out of their bedrooms and share their builds with a group of friends via social media," he said.
Justin Chua, who runs LEGO aftermarket store Lioncity Mocs in Singapore, says this 1:100-scale model of a Singaporean littoral mission ship took him more than two months to plan, source parts and assemble. It has more than 2,000 pieces. Credit: Courtesy Justin Chua
A company for kids
In a way, Savelsberg, Siskind and the other builders of LEGO-based military models are doing what LEGO has always encouraged -- "only the imagination sets the limit to what you can build," the company's profile says.
"There's nothing that stops me from using dark green elements I get from, say, a LEGO Mini Cooper for a US Navy patrol boat," like this one from the Vietnam era, Dutch builder Ralph Savelsberg said. Credit: Courtesy Ralph Savelsberg
LEGO traces its roots back to Denmark in the 1930s, when carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen abbreviated the Danish words "Leg Godt," meaning "play well" in English, to brand the wooden toys he was producing. It turned to plastic bricks in 1949.
In 1955, Kristiansen's son Godtfred launched LEGO bricks as a system, embracing the idea that the more you have, the more things you can make. "Our idea has been to create a toy that prepares the child for life -- appealing to its imagination and developing the creative urge and joy of creation that are the driving forces in every human being," he said.
Over the years, wheels and human figures were introduced in 1962 and 1978 respectively. And in 1989, miniature human figures sporting more facial expressions than the usual slight smile also emerged.
"As a family-owned company with a long-term mission, the LEGO Group is uniquely placed to deliver a positive impact on children, society and the planet," the company profile says. The 25-page company document mentions the words "child" or "children" nearly 100 times.
A 2016 report analyzing the company's products, published on the peer-reviewed scientific investigation journal PLOS One, argues that LEGO sets "are not as innocent as they used to be" and have become increasingly violent over time. Since 1978, when the first weapon bricks -- a sword, a halberd and a lance -- were added to castle-themed LEGO sets, there the amount of weaponry has increased each year, according to the study. It found that by 2014, nearly 30% of sets contained at least one weapon brick.
Some of this increase can be attributed to movie-themed sets. For example, the company's summer 2020 catalog features a model of the Aston Martin, the famous car driven by British spy James Bond. It comes complete with "a wealth of sophisticated details and 007 gadgetry, including rotating license plates, ejector seat, tire scythes and front-wing machine guns."
There's also "Star Wars" X-wing fighters and Imperial star destroyers, and sets depicting "Minecraft" battles, with axes, bludgeons and cases of TNT.
When it comes to the LEGO's ethical red lines, Siskind sees a disconnect in the company's logic. Is there really a difference between the Death Star or the violence of a galaxy far, far away and the machines that kill people here on Earth?
"There's very direct historical connections between the 'Star Wars' world and World War II," he added.
Following LEGO's rules
From his office in Atlanta, Andrew Roberts, co-owner of Battle Brick Customs, another aftermarket retailer, expresses what he sees as the LEGO dilemma.
"LEGO has always kind of struggled with filling boys' desires for action and adventure (while) staying true to themselves (by) not doing realistic military things," he said.
For a long time, the company even went so far as to avoid gray-colored bricks (the obvious color choice for building military weapons and vehicles), Roberts claimed, saying early castle sets were made from yellow ones. (Siskind, too, recalled some rather colorful medieval builds, saying: "When I was a kid all my castles were red because I had the most of that color.")
LEGO's avoidance of modern military themes provided an opening, Roberts added. He turned his college pastime -- messing with his old LEGO sets -- into a full-time job, churning out best-sellers like World War II M4 Sherman tanks and modern Gulf War M1 Abrahms tanks.
"I don't think they like what I do but at the same time . They tolerate me because I obey the rules."
A US Special Forces team in LEGO-style figures from Battle Brick Customs. Credit: Courtesy Battle Brick Customs
For instance, Roberts buys minifigures from LEGO, strips them of their paint and markings, and turns them into soldiers, sailors and airmen to stand watch in the military-themed sets he sells. He likens it to how a custom car shop takes a showroom model and turns it into a street racer.
"If you're a shop selling custom Ford Mustangs, you can do that -- people have to know that this is a Ford Mustang, but it's not an official Ford product," Roberts said. "I took a Ford and I did a bunch of stuff to it."
In the case of LEGO parts, he added, "It's a genuine LEGO minifigure that has had a bunch of aftermarket stuff done to it. I bought it, and it's mine. And I'm customizing it, and I'm not pretending they did it."
For much of the fanatic LEGO-building community, the "it's mine" mentality -- a personal stake in what they make -- is what's fun and what fills them with pride. And they're not going to let the company's ethos get in the way of their creations.
After the company pulled the Osprey in the summer, The Brothers Brick, an independent, reader-funded website for LEGO enthusiasts, carried several posts about the set's demise. One showed a futuristic olive green vision of an Osprey with orange highlights, created by builder Simon Liu, using LEGO bricks.
Brothers Brick contributor, Lino -- a Washington state-based artist and humorist, according to his biography -- drew inspiration from Liu's creation.
"The point of showing you this is, while LEGO occasionally makes doofus decisions, they provide the pieces so that you can build anything you want. Who needs directions and an official set?" Lino wrote.
Top image caption: A figurine from Battle Brick Customs of a US soldier emerging from an armored personnel carrier.
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While we’ve largely focused on the “good guy” sets like 75102 Poe’s X-wing Fighter from The Force Awakens since their release in September, our coverage would be incomplete if we didn’t also review “bad guy” sets like 75101 First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter. The set includes 517 pieces and 4 minifigs, with a retail price of $69.99, though it has been consistently 20% off at $55.99 on Amazon since nearly its release last September.
Now that we’re nearly a month after the movie’s release, I will reference SPOILERS in this review. Again, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
I’ll share one non-movie spoiler, though: This is an unexpectedly awesome set — you need it.
The build
The TIE fighter comes in four numbered bags. The first two bags build the cockpit and pylons, while the third and fourth bags each builds one of the solar arrays (aka wings).
The first bag includes the two TIE fighter pilots, and builds the base of the central cockpit. To attach three separate canopies and internal control yokes, you find yourself with a central module that’s got clips going every which way at first.
The second bag includes a First Order technician, and completes the cockpit and wing pylons. The pylons are built studs out, with brackets holding the external detail to a core built mostly from stacked plates and long Technic bricks, making the whole structure incredibly sturdy. The power cells around the ends of the pylons are mostly built from sets of clip plates with tiles on them, creating a rounded look that still reflects the square sections on the actual vehicle.
More clips terminate the pylons (this may be the clippiest set I’ve built in a while), at which point you open the third bag and begin building the first solar array. Even though they come in separate bags, the wings are identical, with the third bag providing the First Order officer and the fourth bag providing flick-fire missiles. Since the solar arrays are also vertically symmetrical, you end up building many components four times. This sounds far more repetitive than it actually is, since the arrays are built mostly from fairly large plates, and come together quickly. I was entertained to see that black roller skates are used as greebles — more later on the inevitable extras that come in each bag (heh heh).
1×2 plates with handles on one end sit at the center of the solar arrays, under the black detailing. These clip firmly onto the pylons to complete the set.
Parts
I’ll save my usual spiel about value and price-per-brick for the end with this review, since nobody should be paying MSRP for this set.
Released as it was in the third quarter of the year, the set doesn’t really include any stunning new parts, though at the time the 3 x 2 x 1 1/3 bracket was relatively new, as was the 1×2 plate with handles on both ends (though it’s now super-common, thanks to sets like the Mixels line). The wings also include four rounded 2×6 plates, which I first encountered at the beginning of last year in the Speed Champions cars.
The set includes three printed canopies — and not those crazy bubble-dome canopies of old. In addition to the iconic front canopy, the canopy for the rear gunner has a menacing red and black print.
…and the top hatch also has a highly detailed print.
The finished model
I’m glad I waited to review this set until after the movie’s release, and after the release of reference books from DK like Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary and Star Wars: The Force Awakens Incredible Cross-sections (two books every Star Wars builder must own). From the box and at first glance, it looked a lot like the OT TIE fighter from 2012, but with a black and red color scheme. Hardly.
The wing pylons are much thicker to accommodate the twin ion engines that give the TIE fighter its name — the engines having been moved there to make room for the rear gunner in the cockpit, of course. The ring of power cells around the outer end of each pylon also gives them a chunkier look.
I wasn’t entirely sold on the black-and-red color scheme prior to the movie’s release, but it’s clear that it’s a very faithful recreation of the red stripe denoting Special Forces. All but two small spots are brick-built (two very small stickers on a 4×4 roll cage that shapes the pylons), and this makes that side of the TIE fighter look like it was splashed with war paint. A TIE fighter with a stripe of red war paint. How totally badass is that?!
The central cockpit is much sleeker than previous TIE fighters thanks to the absence of the huge bubble canopy on the front of the set from 2012 (closer in profile to the original TIE from 2001).
Until the release of reference materials like the Incredible Cross-Sections book, there was a lot of speculation about the doo-dad that sticks up from one pylon. It’s a detail that even shows up in the mini-scale polybag First Order TIE fighter (seen in the comparison photo at right). “Is it a gun?” people wondered. It’s clear that the set designers were given access to detailed concept art or drafts of the reference books, because this is a detail that’s not very evident in the movie itself — it’s hard to see a small black detail like this on a black TIE fighter flying very fast against a black sky. But now that we have these high-quality reference images with detailed callouts, we learn that it’s a long-range communications antenna.
It’s the sort of detail that could easily have been overlooked in the LEGO set, and might even have gone unnoticed for the first several months of the set’s availability. Thus, I’m quite impressed that the designers chose to include it in the set.
The top hatch opens as it should, allowing you to put both the pilot and rear gunner in place easily. They both have control yokes as well.
The solar arrays use the same technique for the outer edges and bracing struts as the 2012 TIE fighter. There is a sticker sheet in the set, which just adds small red details to the wing pylons (on the 4×4 roll cage in the photo above) and the solar power converter in the center of the arrays (below).
Shockingly for many of you reading this latest review from me, I’m not going to complain about flick-fire missiles! The launchers and the missiles themselves are so perfectly integrated into the set that the tips of the missiles serve as the laser cannon emitters. (Technically, they should be green, but I would argue from an aesthetic angle that two green knobs sticking out from the front of the black and red vehicle would have looked rather ugly…)
Given how sturdily the cockpit and pylons are built and how well they attach to the solar arrays, the TIE fighter is incredibly swooshable. I can flip it around vigorously with my wrist and it stays solid, which is far more than I can say for the floppy, rubberband-bound S-foils of Poe’s X-wing.
If I were to dig deep for one complaint about this set, it would be the absence of a proper heavy turret on the belly. That’ll be my first — and probably only — mod to this set.
The minifigs
I’ve always felt like LEGO didn’t put quite the same heart and soul into designing the rather monotonous minifigs of the Empire, and I assumed back in September that the same would be true for the First Order. I was wrong. Very very wrong, in fact. (And as I go back and build some of my Star Wars set backlog from my basement, it seems I’ve been wrong for two or three years.)
I don’t know if I can successfully capture in words how fantastic the First Order TIE fighter pilots are in this set. LEGO released a redesigned TIE fighter pilot helmet — one with a new mold that wasn’t just a black stormtrooper helmet — several years ago, and that’s what I was expecting in this set. “Close enough,” I thought. Again, dead wrong — the First Order TIE fighter pilot helmets are a completely new mold. The movie prop helmets have targeting sensors on their top that almost looks like a crest, and that is accurately represented. More importantly and surprisingly, the breathing hoses seen on the props in the movies actually extend down from the mask, using a rubber material attached to the ABS helmet.
Even LEGO’s official photos with their high production values don’t do these minifigs justice — you have to hold them in your hand to see just how excellent they are. With reference materials like the Visual Dictionary at hand, the only possible complaint about the pilots is that the helmet printing for at least one of them could have had the red streaks denoting Special Forces, since that’s the version of the TIE fighter depicted in the set.
Both pilots have printed legs, though the remaining minifigs in the set — a First Order technician and an officer — have plain legs.
All four minifigs have full back printing as well.
The heads for the three helmeted minifigs are fairly generic, but the officer is a darker-skinned gentlemen with graying eyebrows — a very useful minifig head indeed. None of the heads are double-sided.
Since the wings came in two separate bags, there was an extra greeble roller skate in each bag. Naturally, I put them to good use, imagining that this is how the First Order gets around the endless corridors of Starkiller Base.
Finally, I think it’s worth noting that the set designers chose the minifigs very wisely. The First Order TIE fighter plays its most important role in the movie when FN-2187 breaks Poe Dameron out of a detention cell aboard the Finalizer and escapes with him to Jakku. The rear-facing gunner position is a key plot point as the newly named Finn takes out the Star Destroyer’s guns and even a missile or two. But what a spoiler! Including FN-2187 and Poe in his original outfit (as I’ve done in this “what if” photo below) would have ruined the surprise of their escape.
Conclusions & recommendation
75101 First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter is a superlative set, not just for excellent minifigs like the pilots but for the main model itself. Aside from my well-known love affair with Rey’s Speeder, this may actually be my favorite set from the first wave of Force Awakens sets released last September. That’s saying a lot, with iconic fan favorites like the X-wing and Millennium Falcon to compete against.
I’ve never been a fan of the Empire’s aesthetic, and haven’t been super-impressed by much other than sheer scale (which requires substantial engineering complexity) for LEGO sets like the ISD or SSD in the UCS line. So I find myself surprised to feel so passionately positive about a First Order set. But I think this set deserves it. From the interesting build and well-integrated play features to the gorgeous minifigs, as well as its movie accuracy and high swoosh factor, this is one of the best LEGO sets I’ve built in a while.
Buy this set. Heck, buy a fleet of them and invade D’Qar for all I care — I’m all mixed up and don’t know what to believe anymore!
New: A brand-new, unused, unopened and undamaged item in original retail packaging (where packaging . Read more about the condition New: A brand-new, unused, unopened and undamaged item in original retail packaging (where packaging is applicable). If the item comes direct from a manufacturer, it may be delivered in non-retail packaging, such as a plain or unprinted box or plastic bag. See the seller's listing for full details. See all condition definitions opens in a new window or tab
Hand sorted custom set made with real LEGO® and custom parts, in sealed Battle Brick Box with step-by-step instructions.
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