LEGO Star Wars Ezra's Speeder Bike #75090 [Review]

Star Wars: Rebels, a prominent part of the extended Star Wars universe and something we have been focused on over the last week with a couple of reviews dedicated to the LEGO sets based on the Disney XD animated show.

Pieces: 253
Set Number: 75090
Minifigures: Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, Stormtrooper
RRP: £19.99/$19.99

So far, though, we have been entirely focused on the Imperial side to this epic story with sets featuring the big bad, the Inquisitor, and his TIE Advanced Prototype and yesterday’s review on the Empire’s All-Terrain Defense Pod. But what about the Rebellion, where are the good guys in LEGO form? Well LEGO hasn’t forgotten about them and nor have we.

Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger are names that many Star Wars fans may never have heard of, but in the Star Wars extended universe these guys were part of a special crew which helped the fledgeling Rebellion gather followers and grow into what we see in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

As this set contains two named characters from a part of the Star Wars universe which may be unfamiliar to many, Star Wars: Rebels was originally created as a means of filling the 20-year gap between Episode III and IV in the movie continuity. Set five years before Luke meets Obi-Wan, the show follows the early days of the Rebellion through the crew of the ship, Ghost, made up of survivors of various tragedies caused by the Empire.

Born during the waning years of the Clone Wars, Sabine originally trained as a cadet at the Imperial Academy. When the Empire put her family at risk she turned her back on them, deserted and became a bounty hunter. Later she joined the rebels and became the weapons expert of the Ghost crew. Ezra Bridger was born on the day that the Empire took control on a planet ruled by the Emperor himself – not the greatest start in life for a rebel let’s face it. After his parents were killed attempting to establish a rebellion of their own, Ezra became a common thief trying to survive. That was until he met a Jedi by the name Kanan Jarrus, who discovered the boy was Force-sensitive, Ezra later became his apprentice and joined the crew of the Ghost.

Minifigures

The set contains three minifigure, two of which are named characters from the series, the other a stormtrooper – not bad for a LEGO Star Wars set in this price range. Despite the fact that none of the minifigures is exclusive to this set, the haul will still have appeal for collectors on a budget, with Sabine only available elsewhere in the £99 Imperial Assault Carrier set.

Stormtrooper figures, while a dime a dozen, are always collectable in their own special way, it doesn’t matter how many you own, there is always room for one more. This stormtrooper matches the minifigure design seen in many of the modern LEGO Star Wars sets, though, if it has been a few years since your last purchase then you may notice the addition of the blue detail on the helmet.

The most difficult thing about recreating Star Wars: Rebels characters in LEGO form is that the animation style on the show features very slim, tall characters, much like the Clone Wars series from a few years ago. Whereas in Clone Wars, the majority of the characters had movie counterparts to base the LEGO figures on which were easier to transition, Rebels doesn’t have that luxury.

That said, the Sabine minifigure does a great job at accurately recreating many of the details unique to the character, no more so than in the two-tone blue hair with highlights. While the hairpiece itself isn’t necessarily brand-new, this is the first time that I’ve seen this particular colouring and it looks great on the character. The head, on the other hand, is a fairly generic female face and a little lighter in tone than the source material. It’s difficult for LEGO to do much more given the human heritage of the character and lack of distinguishing marks.

The torso design is actually the most impressive part of the minifigure, featuring a design which should be very familiar to fans of the show. Sabine wears a light-weight sleeveless variation of the bounty-hunter armour worn by the Fett family and while it is a real shame that the minifigure doesn’t feature her helmet – which would be familiar even to those with minimal Star Wars knowledge – the torso design does a very accurate job of recreating the characters look. The tan coloured legs also feature minor detail which completes the design with a gun holster belt. Accessory-wise, Sabine features two standard LEGO Star Wars smaller blasters.

On to the force user, Ezra is a Jedi in training and unsurprisingly this minifigure features a lightsaber, though with a unique hilt. While the character in the show also has a very unique looking weapon, the LEGO recreation isn’t great, using a binocular piece as the hilt instead of the standard.

The torso and leg pieces both accurately recreate the character’s outfit from the show. The mixture of orange and light brown do a fair job of transitioning the character to minifigure form and despite being quite simplistic compared to some Star Wars characters, it looks fantastic. The interesting thing and another big downside with this figure is the head, not only is the piece the same one used for Scott Lang’s Ant-Man but given the darker skin colour in the show, seems inappropriately light, much like Sabine’s figure.

The Speeders

Anyone who has seen Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi should be fairly familiar with the Star Wars universe speeders and these Rebels versions are variations on that original design. The set includes two such models which you may immediately notice are almost identical in design, but this isn’t LEGO being lazy, this is actually accurate to the source material. In Star Wars: Rebels, Ezra’s speeder bike was actually a surplus Imperial model, repainted to match the Padawan’s tastes and blend into traffic.

While you can expect a great deal of repetition with this particular build, this doesn’t hinder how much fun these speeders are to build – which is impressive because let’s face it, you’re essentially building the same model twice. The design is well thought out, creating something easy enough for younger fans to build with enough intelligent use of established LEGO pieces to keep even the most experienced fan interested.

The colour-scheme and additional detail on Ezra’s model perfectly recreate what fans know from the show, the green and orange work great together. The Imperial bike is somewhat easier, given the standard stormtrooper colours of white and black though I’m happy to say that, unlike most Empire vehicles, the grey pieces are minimal.

The completed models are actually considerably larger than fans would expect when compared to those in the TV show, but that said, they still do a very impressive job of capturing much of the detail very well. As I’ve said a number of times, specifically with the minifigures, it is sometimes difficult to accurately recreate certain things in LEGO and in this case the designers have made the decision to increase the scale in favour of a better design, sadly they still included stickers.

The front steering vanes on each bike are adjustable, though, for those looking to display, the angle you set these at will have a massive impact on the stability of the models pose. Impressively, the two main rods which connect the front to the main engine block are retractable, perfect for storage, although the models do look great with these both extended and retracted.

Both bikes also feature stud launchers, a staple of modern LEGO Star Wars sets, one on each side of the bikes – luckily they are colour co-ordinated so that there will be no squabbling over whose ammo is whose.

The important thing for those LEGO fans looking for play time is the strength of the finished product and these models are impressively strong and sturdy. While you may lose an extra detail piece or two if dropped on the floor, the bikes as a whole will remain intact.

The Set Overall

Overall, the LEGO Star Wars Ezra’s Speeder Bike set is fantastic value for money. For such a low price, relatively, of course, you get three minifigures and two fantastically detailed toys which studs launchers – for younger fans, what’s not to like?

Despite a few issues with the Ezra and Sabine minifigures, these are still named characters in the Star Wars universe and as a result, they will likely attract collectors to such a small set. The bikes are superb, while slightly off on scale they accurately recreate the much-loved vehicles from the show and despite being almost identical in terms of the LEGO bricks, the two different paint jobs do more than enough to distinguish the two from each other.

THE GOOD