The Mostly Complete Lego Review: Geonosian Starfighter 7959

Today we are looking at the Lego Geonosian Starfighter, set number 7959, with a piece count of 155. This ship is based on the Nantex-class territorial defense starfighter from Episode II and Star Wars: The Clone Wars series.

The first picture was taken from wookiepedia's page for the Nantex-class territorial defense starfighter

Accuracy of Appearance:

The overall shape of the real and Lego version starfighter are the same. They both have a cone-like structure that is split through the middle by a turret and engine. A difference can be seen between the two turrets with the real starfighter having a ball turret while the Lego one contains a poor imitation of that. The Lego turret is made from two circle plates with the area between them left open feeling more rectangular then spherical. There is a clear difference in structure between the two turrets and an addition that could have made it more accurate would be one of the half sphere ball turrets that they use in the Republic Gunship set. Another difference in the frame can be seen in the middle where the Lego version has an empty space which is not the case in the real starfighter. The brown colors of the Lego version match nicely the real starfighters color, but the addition of so many visible grey plates in the Lego version does detract from the overall appearance of the ship.

Grade 7/10

Play Features:

This Lego set does a wonderful job with its play features especially for its size. Being only 155 pieces this set could have only included a few movable cannons and been fine. Instead, there are three different and really nice play features to this ship.

1. The cockpit of the ship looks wonderful with a beautifully formed clear curved cockpit piece. This cockpit can be smoothly opened and one can place a minifigure easily inside of the cockpit to fly the ship.

2. The main laser cannon looks nice outside of the lack of accuracy. In addition, the cannon is on a hinge so that it can be rotated a full 180 degrees until it hits the side of the ship. The cannon can not change its elevation, but the side to side movement is very nice especially for creating battles.

3. In the bottom of the ship is a bomb. This bomb is attached by a ridged technic piece into a circular opening. This allows for the bomb to be easily put into place without falling out or moving around while the ship is flying, but also makes it easy to fall out of the ship when the bottom is pushed in and gravity forces the bomb down.

Grade 9/10

Minifigures:

This is where the set really comes out on top. When this set came out both Ki-Adi-Mundi and the Geonosian pilot were both new minifigures. The third minifgure is clone commander Cody which is an upgrade over another normal clone. This set could have just given one Geonosian to pilot the ship but the addition of two other very cool minifigures is a giant plus. The Ki-Adi-Mundi looks fairly good with the only area looking slightly off being the area between the two head pieces. The Geonosian Pilot was a cool new figure as well with nice printing all along its torso and back. Overall. the amount and coolness of the minifigures went above and beyond what could be expected for a set this size.

Grade 10/10

Overall:

This is a wonderful play set. For its size of 155 pieces, this set packs quite a punch with a very interactive ship and three interesting minifigures. In addition, if one were to play with this set it would be a cool fight scene as both Ki-Adi-Mundi and the clone commander are stronger then the single Geonosian pilot, but the pilot getting the ship makes it an interesting battle. This set gets a 10/10 if all you wanted to do was play with it. The only downside is that the Lego Geonosian Starfighter is not incredibly accurate to the real ship in star wars. I would recommend this as a great set to play with, and a lesser set if all you wanted to do was look at it. The one bonus a collector can get from the set is the rare minifigures which do add value.