Review: LEGO Star Wars Jakku Quadjumper (75178)
The Jakku Quadjumper had about 3 seconds of screen time before it was obliterated by a TIE-Fighter in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
Initially when this was first announced, I wondered why they would make a set based on a ship that was the equivalent of a tug boat in the Star Wars universe.
After having built it, I can see that it is quirky little ship that has some interesting play features but is hard to relate to since its lack of presence in the actual movie.
Build Experience
The set consists of 457 elements split into four bags which took just shy of an hour to complete.
There are some stickers that need to be applied but it is minimal. There is a couple of stickers that are a bit hard to reach once you built them so I would advise to remove the pieces before attempting to attach them.
As most of these main line Star Wars sets do not wrap their instructions in a separate bag, the sticker sheet somehow managed to get crumpled and stuck between a couple of pages.
Needless to say, it took quite a while to remove the stickers while not damaging the instructions in the process.
The main play feature mechanism involves some tinkering with technic parts but not to worry if it looks like it is a bit out of place, it will all make sense once you attach the boosters to the side of the ship.
Building the Quadjumper’s boosters/thrusters reminded me of the time when I reviewed the LEGO Ideas Saturn V Rocket set which shared similar techniques.
I made a quick time-lapse of the Quadjumper which you can see below.
Unique Elements
Well, technically not that new as they have appeared in other sets prior to this but these are the first time I’m encountering them since their debut.
The Plate W/ Half Bow makes an appearance here in black. They are a new element that was introduced last year in the LEOG Ghostbusters Ecto-1 & 2 (75828) if I remember correctly. They have since been produced in other colours like white and violet.
The First Order Stormtrooper with backpack has a 1×1 printed tile that is attached to the minifigure back plate. The last time I saw this was the First Order Stormtrooper polybag (30602).
Minifigures
Most of the minifigures included in this set have appeared before. Rey, Finn, First Order Stormtrooper and BB-8 can be found in previous Force Awakens sets.
The only minifigure in this lot that is unique to this set is simply named Unkar’s Thug. It has come to my attention that this version of Unkar’s Thug was packaged as an exclusive minifigure in the LEGO Star Wars: Chronicles of the Force book that was released last year (Thanks Sim JJ for the heads up!).
Previously, the generic thug was a hooded figure decked in grey but it looks like Unkar’s minifigure gang is expanding.
He has a facial print that only shows one eye which corresponds to the one we glimpse in the movie that was trying to steal BB-8 from Rey.
Rey’s Minifigure can be found in Rey’s Speeder (75099); Millennium Falcon (75105); Encounter on Jakku (75148).
This version of Finn can be found in Battle On Takodana (75139) and Millennium Falcon (75105).
BB-8 is also available in Poe’s X-Wing Starfighter (75102); Millennium Falcon (75105); Encounter on Jakku (75148); Resistance X-Wing Fighter (75149).
As mentioned earlier, this version of the First Order Stormtrooper with the backpack was only available as a polybag giveaway and it is the first time that it is included in a set.
Play Features
Apart from being completely “swooshable“, the ship houses a mechanism that recreates its 3 second of on-screen fame. There is a little knob at the top which you can press to ‘eject’ the top two thrusters, mimicking its fiery death.
While I’m not sure how this concept was proposed but it seems like the best feature of this ship is about being destroyed.
Even though the ship’s purpose was to be a futuristic tug-boat, it is decked out with quite a few stud shooters.
There is a compartment at the back which opens up to reveal a hidden cannon too.
Conclusion
A handy little ship that is quite playable thanks to its quirky play features but lacks the emotional connection due to its abrupt demise in the movie.
The Recommended Retail Price is SGD$119.90 and RM$299.90 (~SGD$97) for Singapore and Malaysia respectively which does make this a little pricey for a set of this size.
Pros:
- Comes with five minifigures
- Battle damaged play feature
- Nice selection of parts for Moccing
Con:
- The ship hard to relate to as it has little to no screen time
- Price is on the high side
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