This year marks the 30th anniversary of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and so it is no surprise that this summer’s wave of LEGO Star Wars sets highlights vehicles and locations featured in the 2005 film, such as the Clone Turbotank from the battle of Kashyyyk. The Separatists join the fun with a new version of the Trade Federation’s Multi-Troop Transport, or MTT, which gets an impressive if somewhat small update with LEGO Star Wars 75435 Battle of Felucia Separatist MTT, which comes with 976 pieces and will retail for US $159.99 | CAN $199.99 | UK £139.99 starting on August 1st.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts and instructions
The medium-sized rectangular box comes in the new tray style box, tape-sealed on all four sides, which, when opened, provides a partially enclosed tray to pour out the parts during building if desired. The front of the box shows a heated battle between Aayla Secura, clone commander Bly, and 10 droid enemies. Despite the name of the set, the location does not look like any part of Felucia that I remember, but let’s not get hung up on that.
On the back of the box, a more humorous scene shows the B-1 battle droids unpacking their weapons while Bly accepts the surrender of 2 commando droids. Aayla sneaks around the back of the MTT to outflank the droids. 3 inset images show off some of the set’s play features, including a very sleek droid deployment feature, which we will cover later on in the review.
Inside the box, there are 8 numbered paper parts bags of various sizes. I have seen some reviews that had the older plastic bags, but mine were paper. Along with the bags, there is a medium-sized instruction booklet and a small sticker sheet.
The build
The build begins with a solitary commando droid and the STAP, or Single Trooper Arial Platform, which is a major improvement over the model included in the 2014 MTT, using newer parts and including a taller transparent bar to raise the STAP off the ground.
The MTT proper begins with a fairly typical internal structure of Technic beams and lift arms. The center differs from previous versions, which included a mechanism attached to the side for moving the droid rack forward and backward. In this model, the mechanism ends with a round brick on the top of the MTT, which blends more seamlessly into the exterior as a vent. There are also a pair of rounded red elements that will hold the STAP lying on its back.
Next, 2 short side walls are added, along with a short lower front door/ramp, which uses a part I have never seen before for details, and when attached to the droid rack, will lower and raise itself automatically.
From here, construction begins on a clever sliding platform with angled lift arms that will move the droid rack forward, and down at the end of the motion to “deploy” the battle droids. A chain will attach to the lower ramp to create a very satisfying movement.
Here’s a short video to show this action in motion. Compared with pretty much all the previous MTT sets over the years, this has to be the smoothest, and the attention to detail and the intricate construction show that the designers put a lot of work into it. Note: the chain attaches in a later step, and we’ll come back to this later in the review once the model is complete.
Next, we build the rest of the structural support for the angled side of the MTT, including several clip bars and rail plates that will fill in the gaps between the side panels and the roof. If you have built a LEGO MTT in the past, several techniques will be familiar, like attaching lift arms vertically to lock some of the side sections in place. One minor complaint at this point is that rather than build a removable weapons rack for the rifles (something all of the other MTTs included) this model simply uses the exposed hollow studs of the Technic beam.
Comparing the build so far with the 2014 Trade Federation MTT (aside from the obvious difference in exterior details, not yet assembled), this model is shorter in length and height, as well as width, by a few studs. This may seem like a negative, but as we will see by the end, the final proportions are actually quite accurate, if at a smaller scale.
Continuing upwards, we now begin to add exterior details like the grooved round brick to operate the droid deployment, and the pilot chamber at the top of the MTT. A large printed radar dish completes the lower front section while a smaller radar dish is attached at a slight angle behind the pilot seat.
The pilot chamber continues with 2 short panels attached to clips and angled slightly inwards. The pilot can be seated at the controls, but must lie down for the roof section to attach, which could easily have been avoided with a slight modification to the design.
Two connected panels form the back and top of the MTT, leaving just enough room for the STAP to fit inside. Finally, the detachable roof is added, which includes some excellent striping in dark blue and gray that accurately captures the source material.
From here, we start to fill in the lower exterior details. The first detail is a small assembly that fits along the bottom lift arm and covers up much more of the structure than many previous versions. The upgrades continue with 2 separate panels that do a fantastic job of creating the iconic separatist style. While this model can not be picked up by the top section, like in previous models, there is a curved element at the top back section, which is an ideal place to lift the MTT from.
Comparing it to the 2014 MTT, the difference is clear, and the gaps are very nearly completely covered.
The final details include the two angled front cannons, which attach with a single clip and perfectly join the angled side panel. While the cannons themselves are slightly shorter than the on-screen version, this is a design decision intended to avoid interfering with the removal of battle droids from the rack. The other side is a mirror build, completing the model.
The finished model
Despite the smaller size, the interior is much more accessible due to the folding back/roof and the side panels that lift on both sides, and fold down to access the pilot chamber.
Compared with the previous MTT from 2014, the exterior details are far superior in shaping and in access. Viewing them from above, the length and width seem much closer once the side panels are attached. The taller pilot section on the 2014 MTT is the most noticeable difference and, in my opinion, can be forgiven considering how great the Separatist MTT looks in comparison.
One complaint I have seen online and somewhat agree with is that the stud shooters attached directly to the front top section look a bit clunky compared with many previous versions that hid the shooters inside the folding panels.
Now that the MTT is complete, let’s talk about that droid deployment rack again. Compared to previous models, where you had to manually close the lower ramp and where the rack moved along a straight path, this version is a smooth transition from the raised position of the rack while driving, to the lowered position to deposit each row of battle droids on the ground. The only negative is that the rack only holds 6 droids. While none of the other versions held the 120 droids carried in the movie version, we have had a variety of capacities from 8 all the way up to 20 battle droids in previously released MTT sets.
The Minifigs
The set includes 12 minifigs consisting of 7 battle droids, 3 commando droids, Aayla Secura, and Clone Commander Bly. The commando droids are the standard B-2 battle droid color, instead of dark brown, as in the source material, and have small dark red printed details on their torsos. I wish LEGO had created a custom mold for these, considering how sleek they were compared to the B-1 droids (torso) and the B-2 droids (legs).
Commander Bly comes with a custom visor and a molded shoulder pauldron that is vastly superior to the oversized cloth versions from previous clone troopers. The torso printing is nicely detailed, though there are minor details that are inaccurate to the source material, like the number of ammo pouches at the right shoulder. In my opinion, the visor and pauldron make up for that. Aayla Secura looks fantastic. Except for her lips, which should be dark pink as they are in all official appearances.
Both minifigs feature back-printed details, which look great, and Aayla has an alternate angry facial expression
The battle droids are all the same as usual, except for the pilot, who has a blue and gray detailed torso.
Conclusions and recommendations
As a playset, this MTT is pretty great, with a nice assortment of minifigs and some excellent details, and even though it is smaller than previous versions, it makes up for that in the final look. By itself, I would have no trouble recommending this set for any fan of the prequel or the clone wars eras. However, that being said, we have to talk about the price, which, along with many other sets from this wave, is a bit high for the part count compared to earlier versions of similar vehicles. If you want this set on day 1, you may want to use some LEGO Insider points to make it a bit more reasonable. LEGO Star Wars 75435 Battle of Felucia Separatist MTT, which comes with 976 pieces and will retail for US $159.99 | CAN $199.99 | UK £139.99 starting on August 1st.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.