The Single Trooper Aerial Platform, probably isn’t one of the first vehicles to come to mind when you hear “A long time ago in a galaxy far away,” but by virtue of LEGO Star Wars debuting alongside The Phantom Menace blitz, the humble STAP was one of the first of the first to get the brick treatment. That pedigree aside, I think it’s fair to say some were surprised by the vehicle’s return in 75428 Battle Droid with STAP, which offers a large-scale version of that vehicle and its pilot. But you know what? As a big fan of Episode I, I’m all here for it! This set contains 1,088 pieces, and can be pre-ordered now for US $139.99 | CAN $169.99 | UK £119.99. Shipping starts from July 1, after which point it may also be available from third-party retailers like eBay or Amazon. Is that price too steep for a STAP? Let’s find out!
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
My poor box got pretty beaten up in transit, but it’s still intact! This is, nominally, a 12+ set, so instead of a plain black background, we are graced with the rolling hills of Naboo. I get why the 18+ black backgrounds exist, but I do prefer when models are presented with a more immersive design like this.
On the back, there’s a shot of what appears to be Theed – although absent any water and greenery, my first thought was this droid got turned around and landed somewhere on Tattooine. Insets show different poses of the droid, on and off the STAP.
While LEGO assures us that the transition to all paper bags is still happening, we are still seeing many review sets with plastic. Which sets and why is a mystery. The 10 we have here are plastic. The rough treatment of this set has extended to the sticker sheet, although mercifully it’s only the corners that are folded.
As it’s not an 18+ set, the instructions contain no foreword, so we can get straight into building.
The build
As you may have guessed from the colour palette of the bags, the battle droid is the first thing to be created. With Technic bricks at either end, we start with the torso. For reference, the chest is on the right hand side of these pics.
Right from the off there are loads of brackets and studs-no-on-top (SNOT) bricks used. This is going to become a bit of a theme of this build!
The torso comes together quickly, and the legs are next. The way the Technic ball joints are attached allows for some nice detailing in the form of tan gears. On the side of each thigh is a sticker with a metal panel pattern.
In bag 3, we have the feet and the arms. I like the technique used to make the forearms more spindly: with the recently-introduced clip with stud, we can have two pairs on either side of the tow-ball plate which forms the wrist joint. That then makes room for some bars on either side…
… One of which goes into a ring clip on the other end. It’s a nice detail that doesn’t sacrifice anything structurally. The shoulder joints are similar to the leg ones, with a newly-recoloured clutch element in tan.
After only three bags we already have a near-complete battle droid. It just needs a head!
That’s just what we make next. A printed 2×4 curved slope provides the facial detail. I have Thoughts about this particular design choice – more on those later.
For now, two more accessories to kit out our B1 with: a comlink booster pack, and an E5 blaster rifle. The two antennae on the backpack mark this out as a Trade Federation battle droid. Greeblers will be pleased to see a wand appear in light-bluish grey for just the second time; since they come on sprues, you get a spare one too.
The blaster sits on the booster pack, which in turn attaches to a couple of clip plates hidden away in the torso.
That concludes the first portion of the build. So now we can build the STAP right? Well, yes – but not the one we’re thinking of! The minifigure-scale droid and speeder are built at this point.
OK, so now we can get to the main model. Right? No, not yet! Since LEGO hasn’t yet invented repulsorlifts, a stand to hold our one-droid ride will come in very handy. Even this is full of sideways building.
If I were a betting man, I’d say those clips are what will hold our STAP to the stand. Even though it’s structurally complete by the end of bag 5, we’re still missing the information plaque, which will follow later.
Now, finally, we can start the STAP. The internal structure is a heck of a lot of more colourful than the Trade Federation brown that surrounds it! And with all that reddish brown comes another new re-colour: half a dozen 1×6 slopes.
There’s more to come, too, after we make up the leading edge with clip-and-bar connections. This is quite a common technique in larger models these days, but I’ll never tire of seeing all these angles click satisfyingly into place.
The lower tip follows a similar pattern. Interestingly, these assemblies all use trans-clear clips rather than a more common colour.
Another reddish brown re-colour as approach the end of the bag, in the form of 3×3 cylinders. We also get a snazzy new print for the engine turbines.
Despite having two Technic peg holes available, only one is used to connect to the rest of the model. There isn’t much play once it’s nestled in that inverted arch, though.
On to bag 8 now, and after a quick detour to put some clips on at the top (with a rather curious stud inversion, incidentally), we get started on the footrests. It’s another smorgasbord of sideways building.
A headlight brick on the inner edge slots into a 2l bar as the only connection to the main chassis. That’s not to say they’re liable to come off – far from it. Both footrests are linked in the centre by clips and a 1×3 plate.
Remember that stand? Time to put it to good use! It occurred to me at this point that we’ve actually been building ‘upside down’ this entire time: we have regular tiles on the back side nearest the stand, and anti-studs that we’ve just covered up. It’s slightly mind-bending.
There’s no letting up on the SNOTtiness as we build the top of the STAP. In the absence of proper jargon, I’ll call this its head. It’s a dense core of brackets hiding some more 1×1 plates with bars within.
Oh yeah – these tapered slopes are new in reddish brown, too. We’ve already assembled some to the body, so there are four of each side in this set. Note our last sticker has gone on at this point, too.
The bars at the heart of this head will connect to that curious clip assembly at the top of the body. To brace it, these Technic beam assemblies, adding both reinforcement and detail.
Nearly done now! All we have left are the cannons and handlebars. The former make use of the ‘halo’ bar used in the collectible Formula One cars; I believe this is its first appearance outside those sets. And not the last, I’m sure!
The handlebars have a bit of movement to allow our B1 droid pilot to be attached a little easier. The cannons cover up our remaining studs, while the handlebars slot in to the Technic bracket which also holds the head bracing.
Last but not least, our stand! Here’s the information plaque.
Oh hey, we’ve got some more minifigure parts! The little droid gets a dark pearl grey blaster and the appropriate arm with opposite hands, and there’s convenient, inconspicuous storage behind the placard. I hope you’re taking notes, 75406 Jango Fett’s Starship.
This set gets a lot of mileage out of clip-and-bar connections, so it’s appropriate that our last act is to connect this plaque to the rest of the stand with one more of those.
The minifigure
The solitary ‘minifigure’ in this set is a B1 battle droid. It’s… Well, it’s a battle droid. But hey, this one has a backpack!
A commander droid with yellow highlights might have been more interesting than this vanilla model. Otherwise, there’s not much to say about a figure design that’s been essentially identical since 1999, arm and blaster notwithstanding.
The finished model
Now for the rest! Let’s look at everything individually, before inspecting the set as a whole. First, the STAP itself. Clearly, it needs its stand – it won’t stay upright at all on its own. But it can be removed easily enough for swooshing.
I’m impressed by the accuracy, even down to the little cutout on the front of the foot-rest platform. My only gripe is it would’ve been nice to have the yellow glow in the engines, but the printed 2×2 turbine is perfectly acceptable.
I like the battle droid figure on the whole, too. It has plenty of character, even if it is somewhat limited in the posability – particularly the knees, which hardly bend at all. It can still touch its toes, though. And if you’re careful it’ll even balance on one leg!
The blaster relies on a clip-and-bar connection so that the B-1 can ‘hold’ it. Its comlink booster pack can be easily removed too.
But how accurate is it? I’ll refer at this point to a comment made by our Daniel when he saw this set: “is it just me, or is that B-1 particularly swole?” Well, here’s a reference picture of a B1 droid from Wookieepedia:
Image courtesy of Wookieepedia
And here’s our LEGO one. Yeah, it does look a bit hench, doesn’t it? I think it’s down to the size of the limbs, which in turn is driven by the decision to use Technic ball joints for the, erm, joints. Perhaps more gaps might have helped too – it just doesn’t look spindly enough. I’m surprised the forearms and lower torso are the only areas where we really get to see any attempt to replicate that.
I’m not completely sold on the head design, either. Nice though the printed part is, the 2×4 curved slope truncates the nose awkwardly, when it should have more of a taper to it. That’s exacerbated by the 2×2 tiles representing neck joints, which stick out instead of being recessed. In the front view they look more like Princess Leia’s hair buns!
In spite of all that, it’s unmistakably a battle droid. They’re presented as awkward, bumbling droids for much of the saga, and I do think this figure still gets that across. It certainly doesn’t detract from its ride – the set as a whole would be poorer for its exclusion.
On which note: saddle up! There are two pairs of attachment points for our droid pilot. First, the studs on the back of the feet link to the footrests:
Then the hands clip on to the handlebars using the same connection point as the blaster. The instructions actually recommend removing the handlebars and clipping these in first before attaching the rest. However, either method works fine as long as you’re careful.
What I wouldn’t recommend is leaving one of the attachment points out. The battle droid can technically fly one-handed, like below, but you’re putting a lot of faith in the other joints. The weight balance is quite important with the droid leaning back as it is, so you do really need all four joints.
But that leaned-back pose really does give this model some dynamism. It’s tall, too – over a foot from the base of the stand to the tip of the droid’s head. Those 1,088 pieces really go a long way!
It looks good from most angles too, which isn’t always the case with large LEGO sets.
Let’s not forget about our diminutive minifigure-scaled STAP, though. It’s… Fine. I haven’t built one of these in a long time (at least not an official LEGO one), but the general design doesn’t seem to have changed much since I did.
Weirdly, the mini-STAP and big battle droid are more or less to the same relative scale as the big STAP and a human. So enjoy this droid-based artist’s impression of what I’m doing between writing paragraphs. And yes, once off the stand, it is quite swooshable!
Conclusion & recommendation
I love to be surprised by a LEGO set. This was a surprise when it was revealed, and I was constantly kept guessing by the build. I found myself enjoying it more and more as I went. Given the proliferation of buildable droids recently, it was perhaps a matter of time before we got a clanker; the inclusion of a STAP is a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. It’s a great model that does an admirable job of replicating a very curvy in-universe design. I don’t even mind the hench droid that much – the bulkiness is much less apparent when it’s mounted up. The head is really the only major bugbear I have.
Well… That and the price. Star Wars sets – and indeed licensed LEGO sets in general – being overpriced is nothing new. And to be fair, this STAP and battle droid combo is far from the worst offender; the end result is bigger than many more expensive and parts-intensive sets. Nevertheless, I can’t help but feel that $140 for what’s already the fourth buildable droid this year is a bit much. It’s not far off: $120 would have been fair, and $100 would be a pretty good deal for what is a very fun build. So if you see this set at either of those prices, that would be your moment to pull the trigger.
LEGO Star Wars 75428 Battle Droid with STAP is now available for pre-order for US $139.99 | CAN $169.99 | UK £119.99. Shipping starts from July 1, after which point it may also be available from third-party retailers like eBay or Amazon.
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.
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