LEGO Star Wars | AT-AT vs. Tauntaun Microfighters [REVIEW]
Overview
Theme: LEGO Star Wars
Name: AT-AT vs. Tauntaun Microfighters (75298)
Year: 2021
Price: $19.99 | €19.99
Pieces: 205
Minifigs: 2
The 34th set in the Microfighters subtheme comes in the form of the legendary battle between the AT-AT and the Tauntaun. It also happens to be the second microfighter I personally own. This is kind of just a test review, to get the format right, so bare with me 😀
Unboxing
The unboxing experience is your standard Star Wars playset unboxing. Nothing very special, obviously. The boxart looks pretty nice though. I much prefer having the “white Star Wars text over a scenic background” than the usual “black text over the white greebling strip” they do for every set nowadays. It does come with 2 seperate instruction manuals for each microfighter, so you could easily build this with someone if that’s your thing. Other than that there isn’t much to say really.
Minifigure Selection
Considering the idea of the set, the minifigure selection is perfect really. You get the same AT-AT Driver figure as you get in the bigger AT-AT set from 2020, so if you already have that set you get a third of that figure, which is nice. The biggest selling point of this set, I think, is that Hoth Luke Skywalker minifigure though. It’s the third Hoth Luke they’ve made (the other two being from 2010 and 2016) and it is by far the best version they’ve done. If you’re like me, and you also collect Star Wars minifigs, the selection here is enough to justify the set already I’d say.
Minifigure Production
They decided to print Luke’s face and skin on a white minifigure head piece to simulate the head-mask he was wearing on Hoth. When I originally saw this, I had worries about the opacity of the print (especially after seeing how badly they executed the same effect with Overwatch’s Mercy), but I’m very happy to report that the face print is perfect.
I’m not a huge fan of the visor when it’s down. It looks too large on his face even when you consider their huge size in the movie. When the visor is up though, I think it looks great. The torso and leg printing is very sharp and well applied too, with some metallic printing on the torso for good measure. By far the best Hoth Luke minifigure they’ve made to date.
As mentioned earlier, the AT-AT Driver is exactly the same as the minifigure from the bigger AT-AT set from 2020 and the quality is on-par with them too. The printing is sharp, colours are good, and all the prints on the helmet are lined up correctly. My only complaint is that the stud blaster looks horrible. I opted to leave it elsewhere and just treat the binoculars as his “weapon” instead. I think it looks much better on display this way.
Build Experience
There isn’t an awful lot to say about the build experience. Both builds are fairly similar in the sense that you start with the ‘torso’ and just thicken it out a bit until you attach the limbs.
The tauntaun was a little bit more intricate, but not by a lot. The build is a bit smoother on the Tauntaun and more interesting to put together, so it’s definitely the better of the two. The AT-AT was a pretty boring, simple build that won’t surprise you to any capacity.
The highlight of the build is probably the way the head and legs attached to the tauntaun. There was definitely more thought put into it than the AT-AT. If you do decide to build this with someone, definitely be the one to do the tauntaun, if possible.
Design
The premise of the set is very similar to sets 75265 and 75228, with a typical microfighter vehicle going up against a brick-built creature. I would’ve expected a Snowspeeder vs an AT-AT, or maybe a Wampa vs a Tauntaun, but honestly either of those two sets would be a downgrade compared to this.
The Tauntaun really surprised me with how well it’s designed. It scales extremely well alongside the Luke minifigure so if you have a row of minifigs on display, you could easily fit this in behind them or off to the side and it won’t look out of place at all. I really like the kind of ‘chibi’ style of the set, it’s kind of perfect for the scale really. It has the ability to swing it’s tail around too, which helps with playability and lets you pose it at least a little bit.
Initially, I wasn’t very impressed with the AT-AT. I thought it was boring and something I’ve seen before, (which I have in the 2015 microfighter and the 2018 microfighter vs pack). After comparing it to the AT-AT from the gift-with-purchase Hoth vignette set from last year, it did grow on me though. There’s a solid range of motion on the head, where you can aim it in almost every direction, compared to the left-to-right limit of the GWP set, although that probably isn’t a fair comparison. When you pair it with the Tauntaun, I think the chibi style works way better for the model at this scale.
Value
The set is €19.99 for 205 pieces and 2 solid minifigures. It’s hard to really criticize it too much because it is a really good price for what you get. Comparing it to other Star Wars sets in this range, I think it’s much better value than the Duel on Mustafar set while also being €5 cheaper. In my eyes it’s easily the best Star Wars set you can get for €19.99.
However, I do think that you get over 50% more value from the €29.99 sets for the 50% increase in price. Trouble on Tatooine comes with much better minifigures and better builds with more play features. The 501st Battle pack is leagues better for only €10 more aswell.
Ultimately, for €19.99 I think the set is worth it for the minifigures alone. If you are a minifig collector I think Luke justifies the price already, and the AT-AT Driver is a great bonus.
Conclusion
If you’re a fan of the microfighters series, or you’re a minifigure collector, then this set is brilliant. Otherwise, I think they’re are better sets to get for only a little bit more.
Looking at the Playsets Rankings, I’d rank it at 18th out of 26. I think this set is better than the Duel on Mustafar, because the minifigures are close, but the build is much better on this set. But I think the build and overall model on the Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter comfortably places it above this microfighter.
Relative to all Star Wars sets, it’s competition is the same, with the Duel on Mustafar below it and Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter above it. But with the extra competition, the set comes in at 33th out of 41.
Looking at every set I own, I’d rank it at a fairly low 79th out of 93 sets. It finds itself sandwiched between two architecture sets, namely the London and Dubai skyline sets. This is because I think the display value of the London set gives it the edge, but I think the minifigs give it enough value to me to place it above Dubai.
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