With the Han Solo: A Star Wars Story movie out of the way, it’s now time to write my review of the LEGO Star Wars Han Solo’s Landspeeder 75209 – quite the mouthful to say that! Read on for my review of what I think is the best set in the LEGO Line-up for this movie.
Of all the sets in the LEGO Star Wars 2018 lineup that marked the release of this movie, this one instantly jumped out to me! It is a pretty cool looking vehicle. And something that is worthy of the legend that is Han Solo! It also happens to be one of the smallest in the lineup for this movie.
Later in this review, I’ll cover off a quick comparison to the movie version. For now, let’s focus on building this cool LEGO Set!
The Box
Straight away, from just looking at the box, you can see the love that has gone into this set. The packaging looks spectacular with the new Star Wars Solo branding across the top. Featuring Han Solo and his crew and the new old Millenium Falcon looking practically new.
Now obviously the hero of the box is the Landspeeder itself. And it really shines in the box art with Han Solo and Qi’ra speeding along firing missiles and dodging blaster fire.
Opening up the box, you 3 bags of parts, the manual and no stickers! Did you hear that… No stickers! That’s rare in a set these days. Not that I mind stickers, but it seems to be a sticking point for a lot of people – see what I did there.
The Build
For a small set, I got a lot of enjoyment from this build and I’ll do my best to convey all of that in this review.
Bag 1 starts you off building the base of the set from the back to the front, starting with what will become the smuggling compartment. The base features a variety of colours and studs out parts – by the end of the build, you cannot see any of those green studs. It’s all very solid and kind of keeps you guessing as you go what each bit will become. But quite quickly you get to realise the little bits of detail the LEGO Designers have included – which I’ll discuss later on.
By the time you finish with Bag One, you have a very filled out and parts rich foundation.
Bag 2 focuses on the front, right, back left and some of the underside. The right side itself is fairly simple uses curved bricks topped with bright white 1×2 grates. The centre of it includes some exposed machinery to break the lines up. This is then attached via the studs out parts I mentioned in the base. This technique is known as SNOT (Studs Not On Top) and you can read more about it over on the BrickWiki.
The underside was a lot more involved than I expected and rather neat in my opinion. The designers have used 90-degree stud pieces attached at 90 degrees to the underside. Various panels are then attached which will ultimately hide the wheels. And then Stud shooters are attached perfectly to this – LEGO are getting better and better at integrating them into the builds.
By the end of Bag Two, this is starting to really resemble Han Solo’s Landspeeder from the movie and box.
Bag 3 is all about finishing the set – being the last bag and all. Starting around the back, we add boosters, the secret compartment cover and then the rest of the rear detailing.
Next, we build out the much more interesting left side of the vehicle which really shows how far the building techniques in LEGO sets have come. Everything here is exposed and it looks great!
After that, the engine bay gets an engine – lucky that – which is a solid little build on it own. Following that, the bonnet cover is both simple and solid, completing those bold white lines.
Going underneath, the wheels are added and very well hidden by all of the previous SNOT building. Then finally the roof bar is added. It’s a fairly basic build across the top but does cleverly use to simple 1×1 clear round studs to attach it very firmly to the body. The longer vertical bar on the left side is similarly plain but does use a clear 2×2 round piece to strength the join, and the whole part faces out at 90 degrees.
And that’s it. Bag Three has finished building the set.
If you’d like to see the entire build, you can watch it over on the GJBricks YouTube channel:
The Finished Model
As I said at the beginning of this review, this is far and away my favourite set from the LEGO Star Wars 2018 line-up for this movie.
From the front, it looks so unique and sleek from off the bat. I think the Star Wars designers have made an outstanding design this vehicle! It feels so Star Wars but also so Han Solo. Its sort of cobbled together, rough around the edges look is just perfect for the character. And the LEGO Designers have perfectly translated that into the set.
Looking at the right side of the vehicle, this is the most boring side of the whole set. Not a lot happens on this side, with the striking white line really stand out. You can also see the shooter bolt sticking out the back. But other than that, you cannot see any of the car’s underside.
Around back, things are more interesting with the two big boosters (made from wheel hubs). In the centre is the hidden smuggling compartment containing the stollen quary.
The left side is the most interesting to me and really shows the quality and variety of techniques that LEGO now employs. It’s just so detailed and different. A truly miniature version of everything that goes into the behemoths like the UCS Star Wars Millennium Falcon.
Now I will say one thing which is a spoiler if you’ve not seen the movie, but I really admire the creative license LEGO has used in designing this set! Given it’s not on the screen for very long, you have details like the smuggling compartment. But, they also went and designed the interior of the bonnet! They didn’t have to, but they did and we thank them for that extra bit of playability. It’s quite simple but by adding a removable engine and some other details, it makes it shine even brighter!
The underneath is fairly simple, but you can really see the SNOT approach I mentioned earlier. It looks a lot neater than doing nothing or using big blocks.
Minifigures
With this set, you get the two minifigures for Han Solo and Qi’ra, along with a random Corellian Hound – ok, he’s not that random when you see the movie.
Both figures are well printed and detailed. Han has his trademark cheeky look and Qi’re looks focused. Their outfits prints are so detailed and unique, really showing the street urchins that they are at this point in the movie. But Han’s outfit does really sing of his style, so Kudos to LEGO for translating that so well. And Qi’ra gets a great hairpiece that nails her movie look too.
As for the Corellian Hound, he’s quite a basic mould with lots of teeth printed for his face. But I kind of like him and he’s a fun addition to the set.
Both figures get a second face print. Han looking angry/determined and Qi’ra looking, erm… open-mouthed. The backs of their outfits feature carry on the quality of the front. I’m pleased to say that the Correlian Hound doesn’t have a back print.
In Conclusion
So I spilled the beans earlier in this article, like a spoiler for the movie, that I love this set. It really shines from the line-up of sets for the movie to me. It has a lot of style, some great play features, good minfigures and a lot of great techniques. And, the build experience was first rate. Combine all that with a really good price, and it’s hard to say no to this, even if you aren’t a Star Wars fan.
You can get the set now from LEGO’s store, and if you use this link, at no cost to you, you will be supporting this site.
Additional Links
- Star Wars LEGO Han Solo’s Landspeeder Speed build! 2018 (set 75209)
- LEGO Star Wars Han Solo’s Landspeeder review 2018! (set 75209)
Gallery
Leave a comment about this post