(Written by Tobymacboy)

I was at Goodwill the other day and while the employees were stocking the bookshelves, I noticed something on their cart; the LEGO Atlantis and LEGO Castle BrickMaster books! After I scooped them up and began to take off someone handed me a LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster book as well! The original price on these was $30 per book, but we only paid $2.50 for each! Yeah, a great find! 🙂

As you probably know LEGO BrickMaster books are published by DK Publishing. They include a book section with fun facts, stories and building instructions for some small LEGO models. And behind the front cover of the book there is a compartment with LEGO bricks you can use to build them! I really enjoyed putting together these sets, so I thought to share my review of the LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster models with you.

➡ LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster Battle of Christophsis Models: the first two models from the LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster book are the AAT (Armored Assault Tank) Battle Tank and Nu-Class Attack Shuttle. They both look nice, especially the AAT. The AAT’s secondary laser canons move up and down and can turn 360 degrees. The turret swivels and the primary laser canon moves up and down. The NCAS’s wings, cockpit, primary and secondary laser canons all move. A problem is that the two transparent LEGO bricks that make up the display-stand aren’t big enough to leave it in “fly” position. Neither of the models can hold minifigs… sadly. 🙁

➡ LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster Ice Encounter Models: the second two models in the LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster book are the LAAT/R (Low Altitude Assault Transport/Reconnaissance) and STAS (Single Trooper Air Speeder). Both of these are great models with lots of articulation and weapons. The LAAT/R definitely looks the best. It has blasters (wings), canons (below swivel), and a primary canon (swivel). The STAS is smaller and less exciting as it has no moving parts except the tiny laser under the ship’s body. It still looks really neat though. These two models can hold minifigures, which makes them much better in my opinion. (Click image for larger view. Photo by Flickr member KatanaZ)

➡ LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster Desert Raid Models: the third two models from the LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster book include the S-Wing and Mobile Missile Platform. The S-Wing looks very cool with its six separate blasters, hinged wings and sleek design. The MMP looks awesome too. It has a giant laser-canon and a ground-vibration-sensor (blaster-looking thing at the front). Not as sleek a design as the other model, but still great looking.

➡ LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster Forest Fight Models: the last two (and my favorite) models from the LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster book are the AT-RT (All-Terrain Reconnaissance Transport), and VTS (Varied Terrain Speeder). I have always loved the walkers in Star Wars, and although this is a Prequel/Clone Wars walker it is still the best of the models. It has a moving antenna, the legs move at two joints each (foot and legs), it has a Clone Trooper blaster-holder in the back, controls, and a blaster-canon. It stands up well, which is very hard to do with LEGO Star Wars walker models. (I’ve built a minifig-scale AT-ST before and balancing the model even while standing on a baseplate is a hard thing to do). The VTS is the best of the droid ships. It has a large swiveling cannon, a great design and the droid fits nicely.

While I was typing up this review I also noticed something in the book’s picture of the finished model that wasn’t shown in the instructions: more blasters! I looked over the instructions over and over, and these are not present in any of the steps. If you wish to add these you must follow these instructions: Remove the droid cockpit controls, both sets of LEGO bricks on the side, and the 1x4s with the dark grey 1x2s on them from the front of the model. Next, replace the light grey 1×4 with the structure pictured. Then just put all the pieces back in their place, and you’re done!

Now the review of the LEGO BrickMaster book itself! Information about the LEGO Star Wars models, their real counterparts, tips, and little comics are given throughout the book. There is also great artwork on the pages, and there is a nice compartment that holds the bag of LEGO elements you get. The bag is actually really good quality and is reusable and the book is about the same quality of the LEGO Encyclopedia/Dictionary books. One huge problem I found was the building instructions themselves. They aren’t well put together: you don’t get the list that shows you the LEGO pieces used in a given step, and the steps are very crowded (too many things being done in a single step). However if you manage to get through this obstacle you get great little LEGO Star Wars models for your collection.

Is the LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster book worth the $30 original price tag? Actually, yes! Here’s why: 240 LEGO bricks at 10 cents per LEGO element (average price) comes to $24.00. Plus you also get two minifigs and a hardcover book and instructions of building three sets of models. That’s just totally worth it in my opinion! You can pick up this, and other BrickMaster books on Amazon with a great discount: LEGO Star Wars BrickMaster Book

How about you? Do you have any of the LEGO BrickMaster books? How do you like them? Do you have any favorites?  Feel free to share in the comment section below! Would love to hear what you think of them! 😉

And you may also like to check out the following related posts:

• Collecting LEGO Books – Intro to a Fun Hobby!
• LEGO Minifigures Character Encyclopedia
• LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles Update
• LEGO Book Review: The LEGO Adventure Book
• New LEGO Book: You Can Build It!
• The LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia
• LEGO Book Review: The LEGO Ideas Book
• Catching Up On Your LEGO Reading