I guess I count as an AFOL (adult fan of Lego), but then I played with it a lot as a kid. In recent years I have acquired a few kits that I have enjoyed building. I will put it on my Christmas and birthday lists as people always ask what to buy me. I did not ask specifically for this one, but it was a nice surprise last Christmas. I only just got around to building it as we were in Germany then and it came back by a different route as we were travelling around.
So this is not actually Lego. It is branded as Modbrix, but you can find the same set at Blue Brixx. It is obvious the battle on Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back, but you will not find any Star Wars branding on the plain box. It sells for 30€, which is about the half price of a similar size Lego Star Wars set I built a while back.
Inside you will find a load of bags. With Lego you generally use all the bits from each bag as you work through the build, but these are sorted by type with several types in each bag. The bags are a fragile sort of plastic that easily splits once you open them, so you need to be careful not to lose parts. I tend to build on a baking tray and used a plastic box for the parts. I spent a lot of time searching for the right parts and cursing the designers. There are people you want to shake warmly by the throat.
You start with the base plate that has several pieces that you mostly cover in white. At last they included some testure. At the back is the outline of a Rebel craft that is buried.
The other main things to build are the AT-AT walkers. You do not get an instruction book, just a QR code to access it online. They take you through building each leg individually, but they are identical, so it is easier to find all the parts at once and build them in parallel. I could tell those Rebels where to attack as the 'ankle' joins on these things are a weak point. The feet kept falling off. I am very tempted to get some glue to make them more stable. I found LeGlue that is specifically designed for this and may well buy some.
I built this over several evenings. With over 800 pieces it will take a while. I will say that it is not the same quality as Lego. Everything fitted and all the pieces were there, but the feet falling off was very frustrating and without glue this would need to be put somewhere it cannot be touched or it will break. It still looks pretty good.
There were a few spare pieces and I am sure I did not miss any out. I might consider another of these bargain sets if it was something I really wanted, but I am quite loyal to Lego.
Yes, I am slightly late for May the 4th.
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