We’ve mentioned it a few times already this year, but 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of LEGO’s Star Wars line. Everything from Ultimate Collector Series sets to promotional items has been marking the occasion. The last hurrah in 2024 celebrates an important aspect of the Star Wars theme, and a mainstay since their introduction in 2007: battle packs! 40755 Imperial Dropship vs Rebel Scout Speeder combines two classic battle packs, and re-imagines them in a 383-piece set that will retail for US $39.99 | CAN $54.99 | UK £34.99. It even comes with an exclusive minifigure!

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

---

The box and contents

Both the original sets – 7667 Imperial Dropship and 7668 Rebel Scout Speeder – depicted their respective vehicles on desert planets, and we’ve returned there for this remake. The various play features are depicted on the back.

Inside are six numbered bags. Although I’ve only really seen paper bags since the start of this year, sets with plastic bags are starting to feel like an exception rather than the norm.

Judging by the parts inside, I’d hazard a guess that we have three bags per vehicle, and the fact we get two instruction booklets would appear to support that. There’s also a handful of stickers to contend with.

---

The build

Book 1, bag 1 starts with the base of the Imperial Dropship. These rail bricks will presumably be for the troop platform at the back that the dropship can, well, drop. (And yes – I did forget to put one of the stud shooters triggers in…)

That platform is the second half of the first bag. There are some nice dark blue parts in here, although I don’t believe any are new.

It slides in on the rails as you’d expect. The clip connects to the tan click hinge we saw right at the start, rather than a bar. This way, it’s not too difficult to take out, but the stormtroopers will be glad to hear it won’t fall out mid-flight.

The original Imperial Dropship was pretty slim, as was its first remake in 2019. This one is a lot beefier, as we can see with all the bits we put on in bag 2. In amongst all the brackets sits a big white Bionicle ball joint.

After some armor plating, there’s a handful of Technic parts at the back that will allow the thrusters to be angled up and down.

The next step is to make some wing parts at the back. These, too, will move with the thrusters. All three stickers are applied to curved panels here – not something I’m normally a fan of, but these weren’t too tricky, so they get a pass from me here.

Then it’s onto the cockpit. This is where the ball joint socket goes, surrounded by brackets just like its mating half.

After locking it all together with some sideways plates, a nice, big trans-black windscreen caps it off. There were a few small scratches on my copy owing to rattling around with parts in the bag. Let’s just say it’s battle-damaged.

The wedges on the sides set the angle for the cockpit. It doesn’t shake about at all – it’s very secure. And that’s the dropship done!

So let’s move on to the Rebel Scout Speeder. It starts with a layer of plates before we use some bricks with studs on the sides to make a nice, round front bumper. (Do speeders have bumpers? I guess they must do.) There’s another big sticker on a curved slope at the front, too.

There will be a fair bit more sideways building in this one, as evidenced by some more SNOT bricks that flank the passenger compartment.

There is some Nice Parts Use (NPU) at the start of our fifth bag! A couple of round windows form what will presumably be air intakes.

The rest of the SNOT bricks are put to good use with some armoring around the sides. I haven’t minded most of the stickers so far, but I’m not so keen on the ones applied to the 2×6 curved wedge slopes.

The sixth and final bag has some conspicuous pink parts in it, and we take a short break from our scout speeder build to make a stand for the exclusive QT-KT minifigure, whom we’ll take a look at shortly. The printed 25th-anniversary plate is pretty slick.

Otherwise, the rest of the parts are going towards the turret that sits at the back of the speeder. Some more stud shooters adorn the sides, and this time I remembered both the triggers.

Like the troop platform, this turret is easily removable from its mothership, this time thanks to the 1×3 jumper plates on which it sits.

---

The minifigures

There are a total of seven minifigures in this set: alongside the astromech droid are three rebels, and three stormtroopers. The stormies all feature the dual-moulded helmet; it’s something of an acquired taste, but I don’t mind it. It’s a shame they can’t really turn their heads though.

Beneath said helmets, three different heads with three different skin tones – one male, two female.

The rebels, for their part, also have unique head prints…

… But unlike their Imperial counterparts, these all feature alternate expressions, ranging from determined to scared. Otherwise, there’s nothing unique about these figures; the rebel trooper design is already pretty good, so there’s no reason to change it.

What is unique is QT-KT! If you don’t recognize her, she’s an astromech droid who appeared in the Clone Wars TV series, in the somewhat infamous D-Squad arc. She’s very, um… Pink, but it’s a nice figure in isolation. Both the dome and body are new prints, so it’s not just a re-coloured R2-D2.

No back printing as we have seen on some astromechs, though. I must admit it’s an odd choice for a figure. At first, I thought it was the similarly-named R2-KT, who if you’re not familiar is a real droid who does a lot of charity work (I defy you to read her backstory with dry eyes). Qutee here is fine, but I do wonder if R2-KT would have made a better choice than a lesser-known droid who only appeared in a handful of Clone Wars episodes.

---

The finished model

Although I do own the original dropship and speeder, their parts have long been lost to the great toybox of time. These two are certainly a lot chunkier! They almost remind me more of the old Kenner toys than those original LEGO sets.

As I’ve already alluded to, this is the second time the dropship has been remade; it also got a makeover for the 20th anniversary of LEGO Star Wars as 75262 Imperial Dropship. This one rings the changes a lot more than that one did. The cockpit is now bigger and fully enclosed, which I like.

I think the troop carrier play feature is a bit of a downgrade, though. On both previous iterations, the platform was held in by the thrusters, which is why they would rotate up so you could release it. Since that’s no longer the case, having them rotate feels a little pointless… And they’re at risk of bonking the stormtroopers on the head. It’s a good thing they’re wearing helmets!

The rebel scout speeder, on the other hand, is more faithful in spirit, if not in style. This one is especially Kenner-esque, trading the sleek length of the original for a shorter, more heavily armored look.

The turret can be removed to direct at the might of the Empire. The play feature is exactly the same as the original – arguably better since it now includes stud shooters. I wish there was somewhere to clip the spare blasters too, though.

Obviously, these aren’t canon vehicles, but I have wondered what the logistics of such a turret being removable would be. Is it down to the rest of the crew to move it on and off the speeder? Make sure to check everyone has dismounted from the turret beforehand, if so…

Staging battles between the two sides is fun! It’s nice that they come in one set, rather than you needing to buy two.

---

Conclusions and recommendation

A re-imagined set like this gives us a good opportunity to see just how much the LEGO Star Wars theme has changed in the last 15 years. When comparing 7667 and 7668 to the present-day 40755, it’s almost night and day. The minifigures are far more detailed, but there are fewer of them; the builds are bigger and far less primitive; and the combined piece count has almost doubled, but so has the price (although that doesn’t take inflation into account). It’s not the most economical for army-building, but if you want to shore up your troops and have fun, I recommend buying a copy or two. It’s a remake more in spirit than substance – but in an era where nostalgia is so commodified already, I think I prefer it that way.

40755 Imperial Dropship vs Rebel Scout Speeder will retail for US $39.99 | CAN $54.99 | UK £34.99 from October 1st. It may also be available from third-party resellers such as eBay and Amazon.

---

Check out our full gallery of pictures: