More LEGO Star Wars fun with my daughter this week as we built another new set, the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium.
Firstly, a confession. I’ll admit it. The reason why we selected this particular set for review was because of one of its smallest elements – the Princess Leia minifig.
(As you can see, we also have Sabine, from another soon to be reviewed set.)
This is not to put down this LEGO Star Wars set by any means. But we have wanted a Leia figure for some time (that WASN’T in her ‘slave’ outfit) and we’re stoked to finally have one. My daughter was so desperate for one she started making up her own from what we had, creating brand new adventures for her too. Now we have one, sporting a rather cool if fragile looking camouflage poncho.
As well as a LEGO Princess Leia in her Endor outfit, you also get Han Solo & Chewbacca, plus two similarly attired Rebels. Accessories include the usual guns (Chewie gets his crossbow one), some thermal grenades, plus what appears to be cake – presumably the food Leia offers to Wicket the Ewok in the movie.
This is the latest in a line of Imperial Shuttle LEGO sets, but is the first one to include the rebels, and is taken from the scene in Return of the Jedi when they attempt to sneak onto the moon of Endor to sabotage the force field protecting the under-construction Death Star.
The build took us a few sessions of an hour or two, with my 3-year-old daughter helping me out with this age 9+ recommended set. I can see why the age is relatively high, as this is an intricately engineered model, with hinged ramp and cockpit plus fold up wings and doors in the cargo section.
It also features fold-out guns and fireable rockets/torpedoes – the set comes with (or at least ours did) much needed additional spares. It also has retractable landing gear, which is cool but we have found to be a little temperamental.
While the dominant white colour scheme is not reflective of the colour of the ship in the movies, it makes for a more eye catching model, that is visually different from our other grey Star Wars sets.
Being a vehicle, to me it lacks the full on creative storytelling led playability of the Death Star Final Duel set, but my daughter still loves opening the doors, ramp, landing gear – and of course firing those missiles! It has prompted many creative play sessions, involving new adventures and scenarios.
While I found the Imperial Shuttle to be one of the less interesting craft in the movies, as a LEGO Star Wars model it looks great. It’s still one of the iconic ships of the original trilogy, and adding these classic minifigs to your LEGO collection is a nice bonus. My daughter and I had fun building it, and a great time playing with it too.
The LEGO Star Wars – Imperial Shuttle Tydirium (75094) has a RRP of £79.99, but please see below for your chance to win one.
** This giveaway is now closed, but the LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium set (75094) can still be purchased here **
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I think it’s important for boys and girls that female characters such as Princess Leia are included in merchandise like this. What do you think?
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Disclaimer: While I was not paid to write this piece, we did receive the set reviewed free of charge. All opinions remain ours.
Man vs. Pink 
I have to admit I am not a massive Star Wars fan, but my boys are. I would like to see the trash compactor scene as it is the only one I know!
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My son loves the Star Wars LEGO, he says there should be NO Princess Leia at all. Only boys stuff – sorry!
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And therein lies a big part of the problem – a boys believing anything for them shouldn’t involve girls (or women). •sigh
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I NEEEEEEED this. We have recently found a circa 1999 (ish) lego set including mini figures of darth maul and qui gon jinn in the loft – my 3 year old boy is loving it, and my husband is sharing really nicely 😀
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Ha, sounds like us! We have that ’99 Darth Maul set too. 🙂
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my son is the lego fan and he’s not too keen on princess leia he though maybe more jabba the hut
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Fantastic set!! I think both of my kids would love it! 🙂
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Looks fantastic, even through I imagine my daughter and I would argue over who gets to play with Chewbacca
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I total agree that female characters should be included in these as my daughter would be so much more inclined to play with them. I am really looking forward to the new Star Wars films, as I believe there are some very strong female leads and hopefully this will help to get more girls interested in this type of play.
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I totally agree. Normalizing boys and girls playing with female figures makes a world of difference.
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I agree ’cause sometimes female characters aren’t included in merchandise and people think and say that girls aren’t allowed to play with the toys, ’cause them were made “to boys”, but including female characters make boys and girls (especially boys) grow up knowing the importance of women, that sometimes is not given.
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I totally agree. Girls need to be introduced with “boys” toys (trucks, Star Wars, Batman etc) and boys need to be introduced to “girl” toys (dolls, pink Lego sets, Wonder Woman etc). Boys and girls need to know that girls and boys can be and play with whatever they want, no matter what people say. Girls need stronger role models who aren’t singing about being sexy for their man. I love Princess Leia’s attitude, she doesn’t take sh*t from anyone. Great giveaway!
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I think that lego is a great tool for showing everyone (boys and girls) the wonder of building and constructing something from a random pile of ‘stuff’
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We love lego and think there should be Princess!!
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We just love Lego and Star Wars! It will be my son’s birthday theme this year! We so much want this set! Please send it to Brazil? I don’t mind paying the shipment!
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There’s something I’ve always liked about the original Imperial shuttles – perhaps that they’re sleek with a classic 70s styling. Completely agree about the inclusion of female characters. It’s something the original films were weak on but the franchise is huge across the genders and toys should reflect the full character range to allow all the main storylines to be played out.
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great prize. i agree there should be!
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Every main character should be considered to be included depending on the set, shouldn’t matter on Gender of the Character
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Very important for both boys and girls
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It does matter-boys and girls will only play with the characters they like
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I think it’s very important too. My little one, he loves Princess Leia, she’s such an important part of the whole Star Wars enterprise ❤
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I couldn’t agree more!
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i think assigning colours and toys to be aimed at just boys or just girls is madness.both my children play with toys aimed at either.every child is diffent xx
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Without a doubt! My son was amused to find my daughter had paired up a “Mummy” R2D2 & “daughter” R2D2’s in one of the Lego Star Wars console games 🙂
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Definitely! Children need to realise that heroes arent all male.
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Definitely, why not. If you watch the earlier films (I did) you will see that she’s a strong character in them, so why would you leave her out? On another note, heroes such as doctors/nurses/police/firefighters aren’t all male either and they are heroes in real-life. 🙂
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I totally agree – important for both girls and boys
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Sex-equality in all things is essential to give children a balanced approach to real life.Yes, the boys may veer towards male characters and girls vice versa but they need to be aware of their existence and contribution, be it an imaginative role play or a real life situation.
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I would agree
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no reason at all why they shouldnt be included
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i think it is very important for equality thankyou
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Definitely; I’m really into having diverse toys and good representation. Because while there is stuff out there, a lot of the time you really have to know where to look – there’s still plenty to be done to get high street toy aisles reflecting the real world.
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I agree my daughter loves playing with Lego and loves when she can play with a girl figure along with her brother x
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More female figures please! It’s most definitely a positive thing – how can it not be??
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i think its cool for girl figures to be included in these sets to make it girl and boy friendly however my son begs to differ ! x
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Absolutely agree with your statement. Princess Leia is a strong female character and it is important that boys and girls realise that strong characters aren’t all male.
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I totally agree, we dont do girls or boys toys just toys. I’ve go a son and daughter and it usually ends with my daughter playing trucks and my son playing with a glittery princess crown, both happy as larry. No problem x
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i agree – it is important for the kids to know that not heros are male
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I think it is important for children to see strong female role models, even in Star Wars lego. Plus Princess Leia is a fab mini figure 🙂
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Totally, both female and male can play lead parts.
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Absolutely; as was demonstrated by the understandable furore at the relative lack of Black Widow merchandise compared to the male protagonists in Avengers: Age of Ultron, equality should now be the norm.
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I would agree, though it should be aimed at the manufacturers to stop the boy/girl marketing strategies…….
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Definitely! Shouldn’t matter if its a female character, she is important in the storyline and should be included in the set!
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I think it is really important for girls to have strong female characters to identify with ad also female characters in creative toys that will encourage them to get involved in what may be considered more ‘boy’ish games.
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I agree that it is so positive for boys and girls to see strong female characters being included in play sets like this and not just male characters. 🙂
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Princess Leia is needed in Star Was Lego, she is one of the main characters! It is important that there are heroes for kids to look up to, male or female!
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It is vastly important, my little girl is really girlie but still loves rocket,s, superheroes and space! I want both my children to know that gender is not a barrier!
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it is important to have female figures as there shold not be male/ female toys for kids they should all enjoy playing with everything as all sorts of toys develop different areas of learnng and development so if this encourages girls to play with toys seen as for biys all the better
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I always liked how Leia made her own decisions and wasn’t some damsel in distress like the fairy tale princesses. She isn’t just a helpless girl, she’s a motivated, influential woman.
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I think it’s really important that we have more female role models in the toys our kids play with. I have a girl and a boy and don’t think gender roles should be so defined by the toys they play with. Lego should be unisex. My son is too young to form sexist opinions so I would love for him to have a Star Wars Lego set including Princess Leia.
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I think it is important not to teach gender specific roles to children, but sadly, society has ingrained them into our psyche and we have very little awareness of what we are doing regarding this xx
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She is part of the whole Star Wars empire and should be in there, but children will only play with what they want to, bit like grown ups really, but little!
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i think its extremely important to hav strong female characters
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