Thanks for the review, I quite like this set. It's more of a base than 7666 Echo Door and 7749 Echo not really a trench.

Ideally I'd rather have had an Ion cannon or the Shield Generators.

Thanks for the review, I quite like this set. It's more of a base than 7666 Echo Door and 7749 Echo not really a trench.

Ideally I'd rather have had an Ion cannon or the Shield Generators.

I don't think we'll ever get those. Besides them being not kid-friendly, they wouldn't be close to minifig scale at a reasonable price.

I don't think we'll ever get those. Besides them being not kid-friendly, they wouldn't be close to minifig scale at a reasonable price.

You are very right here. They are not very play friendly and pretty hard to build.

My Ion cannon was a pig to build and it is still way to small.

Being not into minifig, I don't get what is appealing in this set. Granted AFOL is not the main market but who is supposed to remember scenes from a 1980 movie? Even the special edition in theaters in 1997 was 14 years ago now and for any kids standard it's old, very old. Given the extra cost of a licensed product it's not acceptable and I think even TLC knows that to reduce an OT set to the Kids market only.

So what do I remember of the Hoth base?

The Med bay? OK the Bacta tank and 2-1b are here but where is the second droid? what is left of the room beside the bed?

The hangar? not there, OK we had enough snowspeeder already but as a stand alone set, one would not have been out of place in this set.

The Ion canon? not there.

The command room? I recall there was more than one guy in it.

The massive door? not there.

Instead we get:

A stable. Please leave that where we expect it. In a castle set!

"Corridors" with icicles falling from the roof? It would be nice if there was a corridor left to use once the icicles are in place.

A crane. For what purpose? I don't even get what a kid could do with that beside breaking it given how it look flimsy. I mean even on the High-res official picture that Grogall posted, it's starting to break apart.

A refuel station. Again to refuel what? How wait I get it, the rebels are so nice that they keep it ready for the Imperial speeder bike.

I admit I had too much expectations for this set, especially after the Home One and the Battle of Endor. My opinion is that the designer put too much things into it that doesn't fit together.

At the end I don't feel the Hoth in it, I don't get what a kid could do with half of it and I will not buy it.

One question. I recently seen that designing a set was more about the final weight than parts count. And I would like to know the weight of the set please?

See if I can do better for about the same weight or if I should shut my mouth.

*snip*

Instead we get:

A stable. Please leave that where we expect it. In a castle set!

"Corridors" with icicles falling from the roof? It would be nice if there was a corridor left to use once the icicles are in place.

A crane. For what purpose? I don't even get what a kid could do with that beside breaking it given how it look flimsy. I mean even on the High-res official picture that Grogall posted, it's starting to break apart.

A refuel station. Again to refuel what? How wait I get it, the rebels are so nice that they keep it ready for the Imperial speeder bike.

*snip*

Well, if you have nothing about the Battle of Hoth, this set might not satisfy. There have admittedly been better standalone sets.

But if you own a T-47 rebel air speeder - which is available from a multitude of sets - the refueling stations does make perfect sense.

If you own an X-Wing - which is available in a multitude of iterations - the crane does make perfect sense, too.

Well, if you have nothing about the Battle of Hoth, this set might not satisfy. There have admittedly been better standalone sets.

But if you own a T-47 rebel air speeder - which is available from a multitude of sets - the refueling stations does make perfect sense.

If you own an X-Wing - which is available in a multitude of iterations - the crane does make perfect sense, too.

The Home One set provide a crane and a refueling station too. But in this set a T-47 will not be able to pass that door and the crane is too short to bring a droid in the X-wing socket and anyway the cargo compartment is actually under the belly of the X-wing which is actually too small to carry the containers provided.

On the other hand the crane in the Home One is hight enough to take the A-wing motor provided with it and the A-wing (should I add provided in the set again?) does fit in the hangar bay to refuel.

I just finished building this set, and I've had mixed feelings about it. But after building it, I kind of like it. It was a fun build. Now, I like it for what it is- a play set. My three year old daughter has been playing with it since we built it. Target age? Not quite, but hey, she's having a good time with it, so that's what's most important to me.

Some parts I don't get- the radar dishes, the guns. But that's ok. I honestly get a Hoth feeling from the set.

I think what I'll probably do is keep it opened up, maybe sitting on two large grey baseplates that we can park some snowspeeders on, and put the blast door from the other base set just to the left of the refueling station. It will work just fine for us to play in.

Is this the "UCS Hoth" set I'd like to see? No. But for a play set, it works .

Seems like what this set lacks in it's overall execution as a true "Hoth" set is made up for by the parts assortment, minifigs and the potential for modifying yourselves (which is one of the cool things about Lego, right?). I have all of the other Hoth-related sets and will probably modify this along with the 7666 set to create the Hoth I want (complete with a Wampa rampaging through the tunnels). I'm picking this one up tomorrow.

PS - Still want to see a Power Generator and ION Cannon.

You'll be right at home here, Ice Planet guy.

Ugh - offense taken !

Poor Ice Planet people, they wouldn't like to be in that Echo Base!

Poor Ice Planet people, they wouldn't like to be in that Echo Base!

Give him a megaphone blaster and he'd be right at home.

Edited August 1, 201113 yr by fallenangel309

Seems like what this set lacks in it's overall execution as a true "Hoth" set is made up for by the parts assortment, minifigs and the potential for modifying yourselves (which is one of the cool things about Lego, right?). I have all of the other Hoth-related sets and will probably modify this along with the 7666 set to create the Hoth I want (complete with a Wampa rampaging through the tunnels). I'm picking this one up tomorrow.

PS - Still want to see a Power Generator and ION Cannon.

Well said. I like the set myself. I guess I'm just not a rabid fanatic who expected this to be a picture perfect Hoth base as seen in previous ye...oh wait. All you have to do is look at it for what it is, a condensed version of the base. Is there 80 seats at the command center section? No, but if there was the right amount and the med bay was as it should be, and the crane was big enough for an X-Wing and there was room for a snow speeder, you'd all be griping about how expensive it was. No set is ever going to please everyone. There's always going to be complaints about the accuracy, price, what minifigs are in there, design.

I still think it would've been cool if they made a modular base. Using technic beams/pins to connect the sections. Release sections, say on an 8x8 baseplate(maybe bigger?) that way each section could be relatively bigger and have more details, but I suppose that's neither here nor there.

Edited August 2, 201113 yr by Legocrazy81

Thought some people would find this funny:

Some nice staggering on wedges, and to the side, what they call Icicle traps. By trap, there’s a pin you slide out and a couple of bars fall. Why you’d put that trap next to the stables, I have no idea. But you do get a couple of crates in black to put on top of the trap. Because when I want field rations, I want them smelling of tauntaun and well chilled.

Seems like what this set lacks in it's overall execution as a true "Hoth" set is made up for by the parts assortment, minifigs and the potential for modifying yourselves (which is one of the cool things about Lego, right?). I have all of the other Hoth-related sets and will probably modify this along with the 7666 set to create the Hoth I want (complete with a Wampa rampaging through the tunnels). I'm picking this one up tomorrow.

PS - Still want to see a Power Generator and ION Cannon.

This is my opinion of this set. It looks horrid and disjointed, but the collection of minifigs and individual pieces is intriguing. I dislike the Australian price tag on it though

Thank you for the great and detailed review StoutFiles!

Apart from the figures this set is such a huge failure! What worries me the most is that this set might still sell quite well and we get more crap like it!

We wanted this!

We got a pile of lego bricks that most of the members here could put together in a much better way that this designed set. The designer of this set should hang his head in shame!

Hi Mutley, what is that picture (Hoth?) and where is it from?

Hi Mutley, what is that picture (Hoth?) and where is it from?

I believe that's from this book... it's the canon interior of Echo Base, or something.

never been keen on hoth sets, this one doesn't look great being a rehash of an older set, will get r3-po though, thx for the review

Otherwise, unless you're 6-8 years old, I'd stay clear. It's just not Echo Base.

From what I saw, a very accurate assessment .

Edited December 11, 201113 yr by Werlu Ulcur

I too am disappointed with the look of this set. I wanted to buy it, but that was before we saw pictures. If I do buy it, it would have to be on sale first and I'd probably salvage the parts for something else (or build a better one like you did). The minifgs are excellent, as usual.

Nice review, btw

Yes, the model does not look very good.

Yes, it is not very accurate to.

But honnestly, I think a kid will have a lot of fun when playing with it.

For that reason, I think this model is not that bad.

Keep in mind that this model is a play set, not a collector or UCS model. ;)

Yes, the model does not look very good.

Yes, it is not very accurate to.

But honnestly, I think a kid will have a lot of fun when playing with it.

For that reason, I think this model is not that bad.

Keep in mind that this model is a play set, not a collector or UCS model. ;)

Gotta agree with this. Some seem to forget the target audience. This one, I believe, is an 8-14(?). Still, it is a Childs toy, not an adult collectible(by definition). Kids aren't going to obsess over the fact that an X-Wing can't actually fit under the platform, or the positioning of the TaunTaun cage. I'm not a SW expert like most on here, so maybe I'm just overlooking it, but I think it's a pretty neat play set.

Gotta agree with this. Some seem to forget the target audience. This one, I believe, is an 8-14(?). Still, it is a Childs toy, not an adult collectible(by definition). Kids aren't going to obsess over the fact that an X-Wing can't actually fit under the platform, or the positioning of the TaunTaun cage. I'm not a SW expert like most on here, so maybe I'm just overlooking it, but I think it's a pretty neat play set.

I still feel that with the same number of parts, they could have made something more Echo Base and less Ice Planet. Oh well, it has some good parts and figures to MOC a better base.

Great review and much on par with my feelings. This was such a huge part of ESB and it should have been given grand attention. I would have loved to have seen this get the UCS treatment and make a big base. I know they just released the Super Star Destroyer, but I would like to see a big base for a scene like this. Something that could match the Death Stars that have come out.

The photos seem to be missing from this review - any chance of this being fixed?