8084 Snowtrooper Battle Pack REVIEW

[Sisco]

It's a clear day on Hoth. A rarity. Everything's calm. Suddenly, a rebel scout spots an Imperial Speeder Bike! The Empire is attacking Echo Base!

The Empire comes bursting in, with their deadly speeder bikes and command posts! But will it be enough to clean up that Rebel Scum?

Find out in this RA review!

Set #: 8084

Name: Snowtrooper Battle Pack

Theme: Star Wars

Year: 2010

Pieces: 74

Minifigs: 4

Price: 10.99 USD, 14.99 CAD, 9.99 GBP, 14.99 EUR

Lego

Brickset

Peeron

Bricklink

Flickr Set

The Box

Front. Shiny box. Very basic, with all the average features of a box. Piece count, age recommendation, name, set number. The picture certainly makes the set look very appetizing. Good blur effects on the speeder bike. And of course we have the trademark random laser blasts. It also has the "Three Clones" type logo on it, which I don't really like seeing as this is an Episode Five set. There is only about 60% of the box used. Tisk tisk, TLC.

Back, showing the set in battle with its Rebel Counter part. That seems to be some battle, encouraging youngsters to buy the Rebel BP to act out the battle. It also shows the Minifigs in their little red section. Good, it's a push button opening type box. I love those, because you don't completely destroy the box. And again, the fricken clone wars logo. Annoys the crap out of me.

Pieces

The set parted out, minus the Minifigs. Sorry for the horrible sorting. It's a good selection. Although for Eleven bucks, I wish that I had gotten about thirty pieces more. They could have included another speeder bike, or maybe expanded the Command Post. Oh, well. I suppose the price could be justified with the printed computer slope and all the white, though.

Interesting Pieces

Interesting pieces. Here we have tiles in two colors, a vehicle base, lances, a smooth slope, jumper plate, rocket bottom, binoculars, grill plate, spigot, and that fabulous printed tile. I especially love the incorporation of an otherwise castle-only piece (the lance). Good job, designers. The printed tile is excellent as well.

Instructions

I lost the instructions a while ago when I moved to a bigger house. Sorry. So to make up for it, here is the link to the Lego Website .pdf file.

Snowtrooper BP Instructions

Good Techniques, but nothing really new. Just a basic everyday instruction book.

Minifigures

Group shot. Pretty good looking selection, though the AT-AT driver looks very out of place. The Snowtroopers' printing looks very nice, as does the AT-AT driver's and the Imperial Officer's. One thing I noticed was that the hands were slightly looser than usual, but I guess that that just happens every now and then.

Group back shot. Good looking back prints for the Driver and the Officer. The detailing on the Snowtroopers' backpacks look nice.

Close up on the AT-AT driver. Very nice looking minifigure we have here, with some slick detailing on the torso and helmet. I'm still wondering what the heck he's doing on the ground, though. The helmet printing is slightly off, but I don't really care.

Close up on the back printing of the AT-AT driver. Again, very nice back printing. There is that huge gap between the helmet and the neck, revealing much of the black head. As I recall this wasn't a problem in the old helmets, seeing as they covered the whole head. I don't know what the reason was for changing the helmet design. I liked the old helmet better, personally.

Close up on the Officer. Yet another good looking minifigure. Great printing and helmet. Pretty generic face, though. The torso would also work well for a bullet-proof vest. Gray legs are also great.

Close up on the Back Printing of the Officer. Yet again with the excellent printing. This set is covered in great prints. Slightly dull colors, though. Then again, the Empire isn't really a colorful organization.

Command Post

Interesting small base. The Officer can scan for enemy units on the computer, and the AT-AT driver can shoot his missile at the enemy units as the officer spots them. There's also a handy dandy gun rack on the side of the computer. All this is settled on a 4x8 white plate, which is a very nice plate to have. All in all this Command Post is very boring, and you'll part it out within five minutes of putting it together. Decent parts, filler base.

Speeder Bike

Ah, the real gem of this set. It really makes up for the crapbase. I really love the steering technique they used, with the droid arms and the spigots.

Not the best position to be in, Rebel or Imperial. The front looks very blade like, and looks like it could easily cut you in half. The Snowtrooper looks just plain evil sitting in it.

There's a better position to be in. If you're standing here, it means that you weren't run over, and you're in a good position to take out the driver.

Anyway, I really like the use of the Backpack piece. Not too terribly much to say here.

Close up on the bulk of the bike. Solid build, and its pretty stable. The skids seem to have a nasty habit of rotating out of place when picked up. Easily fixed, but annoying all the same.

The Final Verdict

Design: 6/10. The design starts off badly with the crapbase, then picks up with the Speeder bike. I liked the small missile launcher in the base, but it was just a boring build. The speeder marginally makes up for it, though.

Build: 5/10. I hated building the small base. It was just so boring, and with no interesting techniques or neat little details at all. The Speeder bike slightly makes up for it with a fun and interesting build. However, it's not interesting enough to save this score.

Playability: 9/10. It's a small army builder set made for playability. It could have included another bike, maybe for some races or a larger patrol.

Minifigures: 10/10. I absolutely love the minifigures. Sharp printings and smart helmets. Lovely back printings. And at 4 Minifigs a pop, the value is great, too.

Price: 7/10. Meh, the price really could be better. I probably shouldn't complain, with all the contributing factors of inflation and whatnot. You get some great pieces and minifigs, most in a lovely white color. But I still hate that the prices are on the rise.

Overall: 6/10. Recap; crapbase, good speeder bike, good pieces, great minifigures. Meh price. It's only supposed to be an Army builder set anyways. Four greatly printed minifigures make up for any crappy designs. My tastes are changing though. My rating might have been higher 4 months ago, but for now this is just slightly above average. Not really a must have, but nice if you're trying to make a Hoth scene.

Parting Shot

Why did we take it apart? WHY???

[brickfoot]

Great review the only problem was that you did not have the instructions.

[Sisco]

Sorry. I lost them a while ago, but I did include a direct link to the instructions on TLG's website, if that's any consolation.

[brickfoot]

It's okay but I am to lazy to click on the links but I really like how you put the link there instead of just skipping it.

[Praiter Yed]

Another good review Cralegoboy. This set annoys me! The At-At driver is too random - who needs to build an army of these guys, and for that matter how many Imperial officers do I need? I understand that TLG might want to add some variety - but personally I'd rather have 4 Snow-troopers. What's the point of the base? These fellas have landed with At-Ats - why do they need a tiny base? - To hand out Slush-Puppies to thirsty troopers? And the Speeder-Bike, is just plain lazy! OK, the legs fit nicely over the big moulded motorcycle (or whatever) piece, but in general it lacks movie accuracy and bends at the front! IT BENDS!

[vexorian]

In my case, my worst issue is actually with the bike. That... piece that is actually two parts could be much better (and could for example, be brick-built instead of a lame <insert that tiresome argument> assembly).

I do like the overall build of the bike once I try to ignore that piece. Specially the controls. Comparing the speeder with the old endor ones, the endor ones are larger but these ones are more detailed and have a more interesting build imho.

The AT&T driver is just so nice. Sure that as an army builder it does not work that well, although I think that if you ever felt like you have too many of those you can turn it into storm trooper with just a little brasso. Boy are those storm troopers scarce nowadays...

The officer is the real minifig I wish could have been a snow trooper instead. It would have made the set peach-free and really, we don't need so many officers.

I like the base with missile launcher, because that's quite a bunch of interesting bricks, including controls that you can use in something else as there is no real reason to keep it built.

I would buy me another of these BPs if it wasn't for the fact I do not want to get carried away with LEGO spendings before xmas.

[Sisco]

Yes, I do enjoy the speeder bike, but it is a bit annoying at times. It's fairly easy to break in the middle, where the two front bars are attached.