I had so much fun with my review of 8036 Separatist's Shuttle, I thought I'd review 8092 Luke's Landspeeder. I ordered this through the official LEGO webstore, as my local Walmart has never received any. :? Brickset reports this as a Walmart exclusive.
Details
Pieces = 161
MSRP = $24.99
Minifigures = 6 (according to the box; more on this later)
Price per piece = 15.5 cents
The Box
The box arrived in great shape from my UPS driver, which as a pleasant surprise. Normally my webstore orders look a little "worn" by the time they arrive at my front door. The front of the box shows the landspeeder being stopped by a stormtrooper:
The back of the box is shot from a different angle that shows the minifgures standing around the landspeeder and illustrating the location of the trunk:
Upon opening the box we find three bags, one instruction book and two longish pieces of gray flexible plastic. Thankfully, no dreaded sticker sheet! :)
Minifigures
The set claims to contain six minifigures, but counts the "sentry droid" construction as one of them. We also get a Tatooine Luke (with long flowing hair), old man Obi-wan Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2 and a Tatooine stormtrooper. Luke is exclusive to this set as are the accessories for the stormtrooper. Luke and Obi-wan come with blue lightsabers and the stormtrooper has several accessories. The screening of Luke's and Obi-wan's robes are nicely done.
Only C-3PO and the stormtrooper have any printing on the back of their torsos.
The stormtrooper stands out from his peers with some unique accessories. He has a shoulder pauldron that is essentially the same design used Chancellor Palpatine's red shoulder pads from 8039 Venator Republic Cruiser.
He also comes with a backpack that has two lightsaber hilt pieces as the design element. Either the sandy air on Tatooine plays havoc with his helmet's air filters or he's dealing in the Mos Eisley black market lightsaber trade:
The Landspeeder
As might be expected with a kit of this size, the build was very quick and did not involve any particularly novel or difficult techniques. The colors of the final landspeeder are very faithful to the movie and there is a nice amount of "greebling" to create texture.
If anything, I think the model could have used a few more plates, especially on the hood area, to create a smoother surface. The only really functional area of the landspeeder is the trunk hidden under the central engine:
It is a smallish area and can only hold Luke and Obi-wan's lightsaber if you remove the blue rods. I guess that makes sense as you wouldn't throw a live lightsaber in the trunk of your car, but some more space in there might have been nice.
Most importantly, the finished product allows us to recreate the famous scene:
"These aren't the droids you are looking for."
PRO's
Good selection of included minifigures
Accurate colors and appearance to movie version
Nice swooshability
CON's
Really the set has five minifigs, not six
Price. Price. Price. 15.5 cents/piece is insanely high, even for the SW Lego license.
Larger trunk space to hold intact lightsabers would have been been an improvement.
FInal Verdict
Overall, I am very pleased with the landspeeder and minifigures. I hope that LEGO will consider releasing other locales on Tatooine in the future.
The price of the set is my only hesitation. If you don't already have a landspeeder, this one won't disappoint, but I can't help but look at 4501 Mos Eisley Catina that came with a landspeeder, the Catina, Greedo and a dewback for the Stormtrooper for only $30 back in 2004.
