A Bantha, my kingdom for a Bantha

monkey_roo

So I just finished building the small T-16 Skyhoper set and was struck by several things.

I only bought the set to get over the £50 free shipping mark and because I wanted the Tusken Raider to put in my Tatoonine display so my expectations were quite low going into the build. So I was very happy to find that the T-16 build was anything but. The peice count is quite good for a ship this size, but more over the build was interesting, not overly repetitive (hard when wings are involved) and just technical enough in places with some nice tequniques to turn it into a fun little build.

The two figures included are great, the Tusken is fantastic, but... and there is always a but... why no Bantha? What is a good little set had the chance to be a great set if only it came with a Bantha, brick built or mould, either would have hit the mark. Having had a slew of Tatoonine based sets in recent years and no Bantha in sight I worry that the opertunity has passed and all Tusken Raiders will be banished to a life of walking through the sand instead of riding majestically on the back of beast. Hope not.

CapnRex101

Agreed. I like the T-16 Skyhopper set but I think it could have been bumped up to a higher price point with a Bantha and some greebling around the engine nacelle.

The Womp Rat we have in the set now is a joke and might as well not be included in my opinion, so either another new mould for one of those or none at all would have been an improvement.

Bumblepants

wasn't there a prototype for a womp rat in the prelim pics? I was really disappointed to see the final version had the crappy little rat from 100 other sets.

1974

What does a womp rat look like anyway? At two meters, the LEGO one seem to be spot on ;)

mathew

It's a 247 piece, licensed Star Wars set that retails for $25. Why do you even care about the womp rat? Google 'womp rat' and you'll find that the standard Lego rat very closely resembles it. In the famous words of William Shatner: "Get a life."

CapnRex101

@mathew - Just because the majority of the set is great doesn't mean we shouldn't expect a little more. The Womp Rat they offer us in the set does not look much like the creature seen in the films and I would rather it had been improved or just left out altogether personally.

A tan or dark tan recast of the piece would have been acceptable at the very least.

GIR3691

A womp rat is supposed to be about two meters in length. The LEGO rat at minifig scale is way below that. It's like putting the LEGO husky in a Hobbit set and calling it a warg.

I really love the T-16 set. A bantha would be fairly simple to brick-build. I've seen a couple of good MOCs floating around. You want one? Make one!

monkey_roo

Yeah, I have seen a few MOC Banthas, a couple of them are really good, but to be honest I was hoping for an official one, so to speak. The dewback they put out last year was great and the Bantha is just a prominent in the the films, and even more so in the games, heck, in one level of the last SW Lego game you can spend the entire level charging around on a Bantha.

I have it on my MOC 'to do list' but I need to wrap up a few things first, also every time I set out to MOC it ends up costing a fortune as I only like new parts and build using trial and error. Oh well.

I will hold out hope a Bantha randomly appears in another set. I hear there is a deleted scene from EPVII that shows the Emperor escaping the second Death Star on the back of a Bantha, so maybe it will turn up in a the final duel set later in the year :)

I agree with the womp rat comments, my son asked why there was a Harry Potter mouse in the set, I had no real answer for him.

TarDomo

@CapnRex101 just interested where does the womp rat appear in ep.4?

monkey_roo

I'd have to watch it again, but I don't think he appears in the original but he could be a creature added in the special editions somewhere?, if do it would be a passing shot or on the run through Mos Eisely

CapnRex101

@TarDomo - I believe one runs out of the way as the Landspeeder enters Mos Eisley in the special edition.

plasmodium

Ever since seeing the womp rats and banthas in the Lego Star Wars video game...

Sethro3

I just watched the original theatrical version of Ep IV the other day. I was amazed at how different it was from what I remember. But I don't recall seeing a womp rat, granted I wasn't specifically looking for one.

But I can say one thing for sure. Han shot first.

samiam391

monkey_roo said:

I'd have to watch it again, but I don't think he appears in the original but he could be a creature added in the special editions somewhere?, if do it would be a passing shot or on the run through Mos Eisely

In which case in George Lucas's original shot before edit it was a horde of 1,000 womp rats stampeding Mos Eisely.