At the recent New York Toy Fair the big announcement was the revelation of the #65098 LEGO Star Wars Assault on Hoth – a set that has been rumored since the beginning of 2015. Below is the full description, pictures, and some of the controversies surrounding this set. 🙂
Play out action-packed Hoth battles like never before! This fantastic LEGO recreation of the Rebel force’s Echo Base from Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back has all the details you need to create your own epic ice-planet battles. Set out on scouting missions with the Snowspeeder armed with twin spring-loaded shooters, and when you spot the enemy speeder bike, get back to base and help Luke, Han and the other Rebel heroes lock down the blast doors, ready the laser cannons, man the gun turrets with dual spring-loaded shooters and power up the devastating ion cannon, also with 2 spring-loaded shooters! This amazing model has so many more features, including a service area with crane, control room area, power generator with explode function, rotating communication dish, scout post with dual stud shooters and a Tauntaun with its own stable. There’s even a Wampa cave (with Wampa) for Luke to escape from! This amazingly detailed set’s modular design also means that you can create your very own Rebel base configuration. Prepare for ultimate LEGO Star Wars action!
- Includes 14 minifigures with assorted weapons: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Toryn Farr, Rebel Officer, Wes Janson, Wedge Antilles, K-3PO, 5 Rebel troopers and 2 Snowtroopers, plus an R3-A2, Tauntaun and a Wampa.
- Features Rebel base with modular wall and trench sections, a Snowspeeder and a speeder bike.
- Wall section features slidable blast doors, service area with crane, control room area, power generator with explode function, ion cannon with dual spring-loaded shooters, laser turret with spring-loaded shooters and space for a minifigure, scout post with dual stud shooters and space for a minifigure, Tauntaun stable and a Wampa cave.
- Trench section features heavy blasters, laser turret with double spring-loaded shooters and space for a minifigure, and a laser cannon with rapid stud shooter.
- Snowspeeder features an opening cockpit, extending speed flaps and 2 spring-loaded shooters.
- Snowspeeder measures over 1” (5cm) high, 7” (18cm) long and 6” (17cm) wide.
- Speeder bike measures over 1” (3cm) high, 5” (13cm) long and 1” (4cm) wide.
- Power generator measures over 3” (8cm) high, 6” (16cm) wide and 5” (13cm) deep.
- Wall section including ion cannon measures over 5” (15cm) high, 20” (51cm) wide and 11” (30cm) deep.
- Trench section measures over 3” (10cm) high, 13” (35cm) wide and 4” (11cm) deep.
- Ages 12+. 2,144 pieces.
As you can see from the pictures, the #65098 LEGO Star Wars Assault on Hoth is basically a collection of small modules that can be configured in various ways. In fact, they are just slightly modified versions of the #7666 LEGO Star Wars Hoth Rebel Base from 2007, the #8089 LEGO Star Wars Wampa Cave from 2010, the #7879 LEGO Star Wars Hoth Echo Base from 2011, and the #75138 LEGO Star Wars Hoth Attack from 2016. This is not a bad thing for those who have missed out on the previous sets, as it is a solid collection with great flexibility and play-value.
However high focus on play-value is not what LEGO Star Wars fans expect from Ultimate Collector Series sets – they suppose to be big, awesome, and look great on display. The random collection of small vignettes in the #65098 LEGO Star Wars Assault on Hoth is far from coming together as an impressive and cohesive display model. I think if LEGO would just have called this set the LEGO Star Wars Hoth Collection with no UCS logo, it would have been better received by the community. Also, while Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are present, Leia is surprisingly absent – she was a key player in many of the Hoth scenes in the movie. And the Empire is way underrepresented with nothing but two guys and a tiny speeder bike – they really need at least one AT-AT to call this an “assault” as the set title would suggest. In fact this looks more like the rebels assaulting a couple of harmless Snowtroopers – I feel bad for the badguys in this set…
The #65098 LEGO Star Wars Assault on Hoth set will be available directly through LEGO beginning April 30th, 2016. There will be no early release for VIP members. Prices are as follows: US $249.99 – CA $299.99 – DE 249.99€ – UK £219.99 – DK 2199.00 DKK (Euro pricing varies by country). It will be available under the LEGO Star Wars section of the Online LEGO Shop.
So what do you think? How do you like the LEGO Star Wars Assault on Hoth? Is this a set you are interested in, or are you going to pass on it? Do you have any of the other LEGO Star Wars Hoth sets? How do you like them? Do you have a favorite? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
And you might also like to check out the LEGO Star Wars section for more news, reviews and discussions, or select from the following recent posts:
I cannot understand the UCS seal on the Hoth assault box. In my opinion, this kind of playsets should never be tagged as UCS (As the Ewok Village or the second Death Star set). What I expect from a UCS set is closer to classic ISDs, AT-STs or Vader TIEs.
The line between the classic UCS sets and the regular playsets was clear years ago. Nowhowdays seems they wanna sell UCS both to collectors for showing and kids for playing. Not happy with that idea 🙁
But thats just my opinion.
Yeah, a lot of people mention that the UCS logo is the biggest confusion and disappointment. Previous UCS sets were always adult oriented display pieces. This one is simply a collection of previously released Hoth sets. As I mentioned in the article, it may appeal to people who don’t own the previous sets, but those who already have them have little interest. It is also worrisome what this means for future UCS sets. 😐
I still remember the Sandcrawler and the discussions started with the UCS logo 🙁
For those who has not the Hoth sets, create a 4 in 1 box or something like that, not a “UCS” set.
Yes, exactly. It would also be easier to manage; those who only want one or two sets could buy those, and those who want them all could get the full collection. I’m really curious to see where LEGO will go with this after all the backlash. Both the Hoth set and the Batcave are getting quite a bit of negativity. Ultra expensive sets that don’t appeal to the majority of AFOLs. 🙁
Yes, this is a huge over sized play-set with everything from Hoth, except that lookout tower…oh Admin do you think you could post about this https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBZBY-3E5VA79wRpMdGwKze9RwfBlII_D sometime? I’m gonna have a full video of the 4′ version up soon, thanks!
I’m thinking that once you are done building it maybe you can write up an article about the process, and we can embed the play-list. 🙂
Ok, um.. what do you mean by done? Because it probably will never be done (you know how that is…) , but I guess I will get it to where I am 99% happy with it. Which should be in one month or less…. ’cause I have to make it a couple inches taller, finish the tan support system, and get the blue window siding!
Well, I just assumed that you plan to finish this project at some point. Even if it takes a long time, it is better to have one overall excellent presentation, then a bunch of in between steps. People who want to see the progress they can do so, but those who just want to have a summary and some tips and tricks on building a larger project like this can get valuable information with just one video and a short-ish presentation. At least that’s what I’m thinking. 🙂
That is what I mean, this will be done completely in about one month, but as LEGO MOCers know, it’s never really done in your eyes there is always one tiny pet-peeve section that even if you did change most people wouldn’t notice.
Yes, I know the feeling! 😀
for me was a surprise that LEIA and the amazig LUKE is bacta tank is missing. I have 7879 Hoth Echo Base from 2011 and it is truly amazing
Yes, especially Leia was a really strange omission. At least we get Luke in some form. That feeding station could have been replaced with a much more useful medical facility. Also, it doesn’t make much sense that the Wampa cave connects directly to the control room. Although I have seen some early footage when Wampas were actually held at Echo Base – perhaps this feature is a reference to that. And yes, the earlier sets are very good. I think this set will also be fine who don’t have the previous ones. It does have some nice features. The door, the turret and the shield generator thingy are all good.
Sadly, this set appears to miss the mark on many fronts. And UCS sets don’t see many discounts so this set might be around for a while. BUT, what if LEGO came out with another set called “Escape from Hoth” that included the Millenium Falcon in the hanger, the wrecked Echo Base Command Center, and a hallway to connect them? Then, you could connect the random vignettes from this “Assault on Hoth” set. The Wampa could even be accessed from the hallway as in the deleted scene from the movie. I would include these minifigures: Han, Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO, K-3PO, command center rebel (who Leia tells to get to their transport), Darth Vader, Snowtrooper commander, and 4 Snowtroopers (including the laser cannon which seems to appear in almost every Hoth set). Yes, it’s still mostly a re-hash of other sets but it makes way more sense than a Tauntaun stable and Wampa cave. And I still would NOT label it as UCS.
I think that’s actually a good idea. It would salvage this set and also give us something interesting. I would love a Millennium Falcon in the hangar! The thing though is that I think at this point Star Wars fans are a bit tired of Hoth sets, and there is already a Millennium Falcon currently available. It may be just throwing good money after bad. I wouldn’t be surprised if this will be the first UCS set that goes on sale shortly after release. Or, perhaps there are a lot of SW fans who missed out on the previous Hoth sets, don’t care about the UCS label,and will buy the set as it is at full price. We shall see… this will be an interesting set to watch.
As someone who does not have any previos Hoth sets (other than an AT-AT), I intend to pick up this set even though I agree the UCS label is ridiculous. My question is if there is any reason to get Hoth Attack (75138) which just dropped in stores near me. Is there anything unique about Hoth Attack that warrants supplementing the “UCS” set with it or is it just repetitive and unneccasry to have both. I don’t understand Lego releasing both on 2016. Perhaps those that can’t afford Assult on Hoth would be buyers of Hoth Attack. I’d like to an analysis of the two sets together.
Jakob, that is a good question, and I was also surprised that LEGO is basically releasing them at the same time. It may have been some kind of scheduling conflict. This would actually make a good topic for an article, and if you like I can write something up, but as a quick response, I would say that I really see no difference. They both come with the turret and the same minifigs. The only major difference I see is that the smaller set comes with a probe droid. If you are already saving up for the big one, I would not bother getting the smaller one at all. It doesn’t offer anything particularly unique.
Thanks for the response, analysis, and advice.