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:
