Aside from Rey, one of my daughter’s favourite characters from The Force Awakens is Maz Kanata – so we were really glad to get hold of this set, Battle on Takodana.
The planet of Takodana is home to Maz Kanata’s castle cantina. This set of the exterior is from a very specific point in the story – when the First Order attack, pretty much destroying Kanata’s ancient drinking hole.
Constructed from over 400 pieces in 3 numbered bags, this set is recommended for ages 8-14. It was a fun build for my 4-year-old daughter and I to do together.
Despite being a location set, there are various moving parts to construct which add an interactive ‘battle’ element to it. Doors slide open, a twist of a dial and a wall collapses, a lever topples a tree, and rubble explodes from (presumably) a laser blast.
As well as a Maz Kanata minifigure, you also get Finn, Kylo Ren, and two stormtroopers – including the already cult character TR8R, with his distinctive riot baton.
Maz’s head is a customised sculpt, that includes her hat and goggles in one piece. Finn is a standard minifigure, with a blue lightsaber. My daughter enjoys reenacting the scene where Finn complains “I need a weapon…” and Maz replies “You have one!” indicating the lightsaber she has just given him.
Beneath their helmets, the Stormtroopers are the usual grumpy white men that LEGO Star Wars troopers tend to be. Given The Force Awakens overtly showed that First Order troops are gender inclusive and racially diverse, I’m wondering if it’s time for the LEGO convention of defaulting to white male troops to change.
Kylo Ren is also a grumpy white dude under his helmet, and in this set we can see him in all his emo LEGO glory. He also comes with a fabric cape and his distinctive lightsaber.
It may seem modest, but this is a fun little set with a lot of play potential. My daughter added Rey, Han, and Chewbacca figures so she could act out other parts of the story – we also had (mini) Tie Fighters attacking and Poe Dameron and his X-Wing squadron coming to the rescue.
In an ideal world the structure could maybe have been another level taller, given the size of the castle in the movie, but this is just a quibble.
This would make a nice addition to anyone’s LEGO Star Wars collection, especially if (like us) you don’t already own any of these figures.
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LEGO Star Wars: Battle on Takodana (75139) set has an RRP of £49.99.
Disclosure: We were provided with this set free of charge for the purposes of this review.
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