[Review] 8129 AT-AT Walker

[Luciant]

Indexed

8129 AT-AT Walker

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Set Details:
(Star Wars - Episode IV-VI) Released August 2010
815 Pieces with 8 Minifigs
Retail Price: $109.99 USD
Price Per Piece: $0.13
Brickset Description: Attack the Hoth Rebel base with the AT-AT Walker!

Build one of the most iconic vehicles from the original Star Wars movies and celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back ! Use the grappling hook to help Luke Skywalker climb the body of the AT-AT, then use his lightsaber to stop the walker before it destroys the Rebel base! Will Luke triumph in time? Includes 8 minifigures: Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, Han Solo in Echo base gear, Rebel Trooper with P-Tower laser cannon, AT-AT pilot, 2 Snowtroopers, General Veers and Imperial Officer AT-AT Walker features moving legs, moveable head and guns Open cockpit to seat minifigures! AT-AT Walker measures more than 13' (33cm) long and 12' (30cm) tall

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Background:
So I went into this set with a little bit of a bias toward it. I thought: There is the Dropship with AT Walker, the Motorized AT-AT Walker, and then there is the 'cheap' guy of the 3 sets with AT walker (along with it looking a lot like Clone Turbo Tank). $0.13 PPP is a little above the average, but considering it's Star Wars, its not bad, but I still couldn't justify it until I found it during Wal-mart after Christmas sale. (Again, thank you T-n-B contributors over at: viewforum.php?f=6. This site has saved me TONS of money...Thank you.) So I finally bought it, and busted it open...



Right off the bat, you'll notice the poly-bags are NOT numbered...815 pcs.... fun times.

Minifigs


Rebel Trooper
Han Solo
Luke Skywalker
C-3PO
2x Snow Trooper
AT-AT Driver
General Veers

The minifigs that come with this set are nice. Han comes with a hand pistol, Luke has a yellow lightsaber and black rope, the 3 troopers each have a laser pistol too. The # of minifigs for this set is actually very good in my opinion, consider the Walker doesn't have entirely that much room for passengers.

Pieces / Stickers

Unfortunately there are not any unique pieces other than the minifigs (I believe this version of Han and Veers are unique to this set). This set came with... 3 stickers. :D Small ones at that too! Nice. Sorry about this picture, It was hard to get close without shadows and it being fuzzy but you get the idea =)


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The Building of the Set:

This is a big set, and it does not come organized very well:



This set is not entirely too hard to build, although the size of it might prevent younger kids from building it without help. Regardless if your little ones are building this set, or you are (such as myself), it's always good to take some time to prepare:



Yes, I might have a slight case of OCD.

Step 1: The Body


The Lego creators are very smart these days...on all the bigger Star Wars sets I've constructed (this one included), they've build a solid "chassis" (base) so that the set is solid and doesn't easily break while building onto it. Pretty straight forward.

]Step 2 & 3: The Legs


The legs are pretty fun to build, as they took a while, and you have to pay attention. I was building the set pretty fast and messed up the legs and had to figure out why the legs were uneven when I put all 4 on.



Step 4: The Neckpiece


Nothing special, just building the armor around the neck.

Step 5: The Rear


The rear armor is a little more tricky. For me, one of the components moves around a little too much which makes me think I missed a piece...That is my little monster Teddy in the background napping.

Step 6: The Head


Finally the headpiece of the monster! Very cool engineering of it, and unique design. A+ for originality. You will have to put on one of your 3 stickers here.



Connecting arms and legs... Now I'll form the head. I feel like we're forming Voltron!

Step 7: The Inside


You actually construct the armor flaps to protect the inside first, but the picture was WAY too fuzzy to share. After that, you build a control panel for the General, and a holding area for the 2 troopers that gently slides into the Walker and then closes the door to hide them. Here is where you will put on your last 2 stickers.

Competed!


Ok, so you build a small laser for Luke (random). Other than that, we're done! Overall it was a fun set to put together which made me think in a few spots (which is a good thing).

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Summary:
After opening the box of the set initially I was demotivated by the fact there were so many poly-bags and none were numbered... I had to sort all the pieces out before I started to build. After getting started I began to have real fun wondering what was going into the empty spaces, and how they would make this walker be able to move. It is fairly easy to put together, needing to pay attention to ensure everything connects properly =) The appearance is pretty cool, and is MUCH different from the Dropship Walker. Unfortunately it still looks like the Motorized version which isn't much more expensive, as well as the Clone Turbo Tank. I will give it points for the unique head build as well as it being able to sway left and right. The only unique pieces in this set are the minifigs, and the PPP is somewhat high, so it loses points in these areas. It does have a decent amount of minifigs and weapons so that helps there, and gives it good playability. The legs are are moved manually instead of by some kind of device/mechanism you see in other Star Wars sets (not even one to carry it like you see in the Turbo Tank) so it lost point for that. Overall the set by itself isn't all that special in my opinion, but is fun to play with. When added to the other Star Wars army, it actually becomes a nice addition, so that will definitely help.


Building: 3 / 5
Appearance: 3 / 5
Pieces: 3 / 5
Value: 3.5 / 5
Playability: 3.5 / 5
Overall: 3 / 5

Enjoy!

[legitimatealex]

Great set that I would love to have if I had the cash. I do have to say though that for all the pluses there are some parts that I just do not like. Luke's 'grappling hook' or whatever his rope shot is is most definitely not best represented by the classic whip. I think a simple string would have been appropriate.

[spacysmoke]

Nice review! I like this AT-AT but I still think the first AT-AT is more accurate, is slightly bigger, and has printed pieces. However, this one feels much more solidly built. The motorized AT-AT is cool because it's motorized, but it's the worst in terms of accuracy to the movie.

BTW, your head is constructed a bit wrong. That 4x4 wing plate on the side of the head should be rotated 90 degrees.

[Luciant]

Completely agree with both of you. The Whip for his grappling hook reeks of laziness. Sadly I think I would have taken a 1x1 with 1 side an oval with a piece of string and like a crossbow... woulda been 10x more accurate than a whip...

Spacy, I think you nailed my Impression of this set as well. The set seems MUCH more sturdy in terms of show and moving different parts than the others, but isn't as real looking as the original... I am not a big fan of stickers either :P Don't have the Moto AT-AT, but figured it had to sacrifice some looks for movement. In this set, they sacrificed accuracy for sturdiness. I agree with the call , cuz I HATE sets that you sneeze on them and they fall apart.

Thanks for the catch on the head! As I put this together, I messed up the legs, and had already took a picture, got it ready to post here, and then the AT wouldn't stand up straight... couldn't figure it out for a while, then finally found the prob. =) I caught that one before posting ;) I also just noticed i misspelled completed lol I'll get it right one day =)

[DrBeaker]

Nice review!

My six year old son got this set for XMAS and I can attest to its sturdiness. It holds up very well to rough play.