10355 Blacktron Rengade: Construction, Criticism and Creative Prompts.

The 10355 Blacktron Renegade is the latest of the LEGO sets from the 1970s-80s to be revised an updated to suit the contemporary adult builder, longing for a hint of nostalgia. In this review, I will look at the build process and components, how the set stands on its own merits, as well as in comparison to the original 6954 Renegade from 1987. We shall also take a look at the 40650 Blacktron Cruiser from 2023 and see if it can be made to fit with the components of the updated craft. I shall NOT attempt to recreate the box art of the classic set at this time. This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Here is a picture of the box lifted from the LEGO Website. I’ll Explain why shortly…

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Greebling is Good. 75329 LEGO Star Wars Death Star Trench Run Diorama: Hands-On Review

This year seems to be the Official Year of the Diorama, with 3 LEGO® Star Wars dioramas announced last week, as well as one in Jurassic Park. Last week we took a look at the new LEGO Star Wars Diorama Dabobah Jedi Training Ground. With a clearly defined border, an exclusive R2-D2 minifigure, along with Luke and Yoda, this set gave us a glorious rendition of an organic swamp landscape, with different earth tones, greens, a swamp of varying depths and plant life. Today, I would like to go the the other extreme in design for these Star Wars models: occupying the same footprint as Dagoboh, the 75329 LEGO Star Wars Death Star Trench Run diorama features 3 visible colours in the scenery, a more induction, inorganic design than Dagobah as well as no minifigures, 2 TIE Fighter’s; Darth Vader’s Advanced TIE and an X-wing fighter – All in microscale.

So, how does it fare? Is it a reasonable build, with interesting details? Or is it a big slab of grey, missing all of the things that made the Dagobah set such a highlight in the release calendar for the year? Read on, and perhaps you might decide that this is the set you have long been waiting for. Or not…

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