9497 Republic Striker-class Starfighter review
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9497 Republic Striker-class Starfighter review
Posted by Huw, 02 Jul 2012 09:28. Filed under Set review.
9497 Republic Striker-class Starfighter is the second model based on The Old Republic to be released this year.CapnRex101 is on vacation now so you'll have to make do with just me reviewing it, I'm afraid.
Being unfamiliar withThe Old Republic, I thought I'd try and find out about the ship before reviewing it, but I've failed to find any mention of it anywhere. A Google image search just returns pictures of the LEGO model!
The closest match at Wookiepedia that I found is the Talon-class Republic Starfighter which shares some design similarities with this model, and the page does state that 'The title of this article is conjectural.' so maybe they are one in the same.
Anyway, on to the review...
There's not much to say about the box (although I'm sure CapnRex101 would have found plenty to say :-) ) other than it's styled like the other 2012 boxes with Darth Maul in the corner and the minifigs down the side.
The back of the box shows the ship with the wings in their other, facing forwards, configuration.
Just one instruction manual and -- wait a minute -- no stickers!!
The parts are divided into three bags. I don't believe there are any new ones in the set, which seems to be a common thing with SW sets this year: Beyond canopies and minifig parts, I don't recall seeing any new parts in the second-half sets at all.
Bag one builds the front of the fuselage. The long tapered parts are printed which is very welcome.
Bag two builds the wings which attach to the body using the hinges at the end.
The underside of the wings reveals the obligatory flick-missiles.
Wings attached. They are held in one of the two positions by way of clips on the body and wings. You can just see a black one on the right-hand wing, and the white clips at the back of the body.
Wings in closed position.
Bag four finishes the fuselage and cockpit and adds guns to the wings.
Back view. The dark red and white with orange accents is quite attractive.
Underside with wings unclipped. The white/red guns on the wings are hinged so that they can be turned to face forwards in both wing positions.
This cute little chappie is T7-O1. He has a wheel at the back. All parts are printed.
Satele Shan is a Jedi: a human, apparently. Her sand-green torso is printed front and back, with the decoration on the front continuing onto her legs.
This rather gaily dressed republc trooper completes the trio of minifigs. He's printed front and back, too. I guess he's supposed to look like this, which explains the red markings.He comes with a huge gun that's too large for him to hold and stay upright.
To conclude, this is an interesting model. It looks great in both wings configurations. The colour scheme is eye-catching and attractive. The minifigs are nothing special, but they are nevertheless very good.
It probably won't be at the top of your Star Wars shopping list, but if you do buy it you won't regret it. It's available from shop.LEGO.com now for just under £40.
This is going to conclude my reviews of the summer Star Wars sets for now. I hope you've found them useful, and have enjoyed my collaboration with CapnRex101. I do have the Malevonance but to be honest it doesn't really appeal: the ship is too small to be minifig scale and the minifigs are pretty boring, so it will probably stay in its box for now.
Hopefully, those of you in the USA won't have too long to wait before you can buy them now!
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