Category: Review

Playtest: LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium – with a LEGO Princess Leia!

More LEGO Star Wars fun with my daughter this week as we built another new set, the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium.

LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium 75094 LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium 75094

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.

LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium 75094, LEGO Princess Leia , Princess Leia LEGO minifig, Han Solo LEGO minifig, Chewbacca LEGO minifig, Endor ooutfit

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.

Han Solo LEGO minifig, LEGO Star Wars Han Solo, LEGO Star Wars Chewbacca,
“I don’t know. Fly casual!”

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.

LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium 75094, LEGO Princess Leia minifig, Princess Leia LEGO minifig Endor ooutfit
No room for Leia in the cockpit. It’s not wise to upset a Princess with a gun.

REBELS - cargo crop

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.

LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle giveaway, LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium 75094, LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium 75094 prize

** 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.

Playtest: LEGO Star Wars – Death Star Final Duel set

My daughter loves LEGO and loves Star Wars, so naturally she enjoys playing with LEGO Star Wars. This week we were lucky to be sent a trio of sets to build, play, and review. When they arrived my daughter was rather overcome with excitement.

Honestly, her choice of a LEGO Star Wars t-shirt that morning really was a coincidence.

I assumed she’d have trouble deciding which one to make first, but she opted straight away for the set with Darth Vader. She loves Darth Vader. I like to think it’s because he’s Leia and Luke’s daddy.

This new Star Wars LEGO set recreates the iconic setting of the final showdown between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi in the Emperor’s Death Star throne room.

My daughter and I spent an afternoon making this together, while listening to the Return of the Jedi soundtrack (her idea). Given this set is recommended for 8+ and my daughter is a 3-year-old, I was the Master Builder with my daughter assisting. Playing LEGO is a great joint activity for us, and while she can’t make a set like this herself, it helps her develop her fine motor skills, ability to follow instructions, general concentration, as well as her imagination, when we build LEGO together like this.

She did have sole responsibility for the minifigs though, of which there are five – Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and two of his Royal Guards.

Death Star™ Final Duel (#75093) - minifigs

The detailed 100+ page instruction booklet was easy to follow, and by afternoon’s end we had an awesome LEGO Star Wars playset. It recreates the key spaces of the movie setting, such as the Emperors throne:

Emperor on throne
“My young apprentice…”

The Stairs leading up to it where Luke and Vader duel:

Death Star™ Final Duel (75093) - Luke vs Vader
“Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side.”

The shaft where Vader sends the Emperor to meet his maker:

Emperor thrown away
“Nooooooooooooo…..”

And the Darth Vader figure is particularly nicely detailed, with a two piece helmet so you can recreate the big reveal.

Vader removes helmet
“Just for once… let me… look on you with my own eyes.”

As well as the adapted setting, this also has interactive elements such as a collapsing walkway and stairs, sliding doors, plus a minifig ‘force jump’ lever, and even mechanism to fire a lightsaber in the air. There are also hinges and siding parts so it can be opened up or closed between play sessions.

“Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed.”

I actually have an early precursor to this set. That one wasn’t very impressive.

To call this new set an improvement is clearly an understatement.

The fundamentally great thing about this is that it’s a playset. It provides my daughter with a detailed LEGO Star Wars environment for her to recreate scenarios with her minifigs. We have a bunch of LEGO Star Wars vehicles, which are great, but this is our first playset (the one above clearly doesn’t count) and the way she interacts with it is a joy to behold.

My daughter loves to improve upon the existing stories, usually by adding more female characters (for instance, she made her own Princess Leia minifig and a brand new scenario to go with it). As this scene is all male, she addressed the lack of women by bringing in a couple of female characters from the other sets we received.

Eventually, we came up with our own alternative finale.

And that was rounded off with an epilogue that my daughter created all by herself.

I think she knows daddy often likes a glass of wine or two at the end of the day. :s

This is a perfect LEGO Star Wars set to enable any little girl (or boy) to create new adventures with. While it was satisfying to construct, it’s far more fun to play with. My daughter usually tries to pull apart any sets we build, but she hasn’t even attempted to with this. She far too busy coming up with more stories in the galaxy far, far away. The force is strong with this one.

Playing Death Star Duel

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The LEGO Star Wars – Death Star Final Duel set (75093) has an RRP of £69.99, and is available to buy here.

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Disclaimer: While I was not paid to write this review, we did receive this LEGO set free of charge. All opinions stated remain our own.

REVIEW: Star Wars at Madame Tussauds

If you’re a Star Wars fan who’s always wanted to know what it would feel like to sit next to Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon, or opposite Han Solo in a Mos Eisley Cantina, then the new Star Wars at Madame Tussauds attraction sounds perfect for you.

My wife and I took our little Star Wars fangirl along to it this week. With 16 different characters placed in a variety of iconic scenes from the movies, this latest addition to the famed London attraction offers Star Wars geeks plenty of opportunities to post selfies from the galaxy far, far away.

First up we sat down next to Chewie in the cockpit of the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.

As with the whole attraction, the attention to detail was great, and Chewie looked terrific.

But the best bit was…

…this big red button next to you. Hit it and you launch into lightspeed!

Chewie’s Corellian co-pilot was stuck in Mos Eisley, so my wife and daughter sat down next to keep him company – then an uninvited guest joined them.

Our droids? They had to wait outside.

These are definitely the droids we’re looking for. I was also really happy to see these guys.

I will never, ever, not get a kick out of seeing these original Stormtroopers. They were perfect 🙂

Generally, the models were great and the environments they were set in have been nicely realised. I personally felt that the non-human characters worked best as they look just like you imagine the ‘real’ ones would, and this is the most immersive aspect of the attraction. The others that are based on actors, while they’ve been finely realised, are more similar to the traditional Madame Tussauds figures. Still great for taking photos with though.

The choices of characters and scenarios is mostly satisfying for any Star Wars fan. However….

I was disappointed that there was no place for Padmé Amidala, and especially sad that the chosen setting for their Princess Leia figure was with Jabba wearing her ‘Slave’ outfit. Princess Leia is a badass, but this is the character’s lowest, most powerless period in the whole trilogy and it’s a shame it’s become the default Leia image to many.

Overall though, I feel that Star Wars at Madame Tussauds London offers us fans another fun way to interact and engage with the galaxy far, far away.

It’s worth noting that you can’t just visit the Star Wars exhibit on its own, but as part of entry to the whole of Madame Tussauds. This is a very linear experience, with all visitors starting at the same place and following the same route through various themed zones and rooms, the ‘Spirit of London’ ride, and the Marvel Superheroes 4D Experience, with the Star Wars attraction right at the very end. This journey through Madame Tussauds can be quite an overwhelming audio visual experience, and if your Star Wars loving child is prone to overstimulation, then a visit here may not be right for them.

But if this wretched hive of scum and villainy sounds like the place for you, head along and share your pics! Don’t forget to use the hashtag #StarWarsatMT, and tag/mention Madame Tussauds on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

While it may not offer the bells and whistles of a theme park ride, Star Wars at Madame Tussauds is a more elegant attraction for a more civilized age.

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Disclosure: While I was not paid to write this piece, we did receive free entry to the attraction.

Lottie, a Doll to Inspire Our Little Girls

Lottie Dolls, little girl playing with dolls,My daughter has various dolls – Barbie, Cindy, some Phantom Menace Padme Amidalas, a Princess Leia, and a 90’s Storm (that I randomly found boxed at a local charity shop for £2). But I think she has found her favourite set of dolls yet – Lottie.

I’ve been aware of Lottie ever since they launched their Superhero Outfit Set in 2014. It was notable to me because a) it was a female superhero doll, and b) was designed by a six-year-old girl, who created ‘Super Lottie’ as part of a global competition. Any misgivings I may have had about the pink, pastel, and sparkles are pretty much wiped out by the fact this outfit was created by a little girl herself. This is exactly the kind of creativity we’re trying to encourage in our own daughter, and the Super Lottie design looks pretty cool anyway.

Stargazer Lottie, Lottie Dolls, Lottie Dolls uk, Lottie Dolls Amazon
Stargazer Lottie

Lottie differs from other dolls in a number of ways. Her body shape is roughly that of a nine-year-old girl, as opposed to the Giraffe like proportions of Barbie. She doesn’t wear jewellery or makeup. She has a wide range of clothes and interests that kids can still relate to. If you want to buy your child princesses and fashion models, you’re already well served by the market. Lottie Dolls offer parents and children wanting something else a delightful alternative.

For this review, we selected a range of dolls and accessories that reflect my daughter’s interests, tastes, or curiosity. Our choices were Pirate Queen (plus accessories), Robot Girl (plus Busy Lizzie Robot), Stargazer (with telescope), as well as the aforementioned Superhero Outfit.

Robot girl Lottie, Busy Lizzie Robot, Lottie Dolls, Lottie Dolls uk, Lottie Dolls Amazon
Robot Girl Lottie with her Busy Lizzie robot

Each ‘Lottie’ comes with their own backstory or scenario, and while these are interesting – such as reading about female pirate Grace O’ Malley – the characteristics of each outfit/persona are really for us to define through play. So, ‘Robot Girl’ likes robots, and this helped us talk about science and engineering; ’Stargazer’ (inspired by a real life star loving little girl) is obviously into astronomy, and again that helps us talk about that. My daughter loves looking at the moon, and enjoys stories set in space, so this reinforces it. ‘Pirate Queen’ inspires adventure, and also supports the idea that all things pirate are for girls as well as boys. And ‘Super Lottie’? Well, my daughter knows superheroes are for girls (and boys too I guess), so again this reinforces our parenting approach in this genre.

Super Lottie, Lottie Dolls, Lottie Dolls uk, Lottie Dolls Amazon
Super Lottie

I get accused, mostly by people who don’t know me very well, of denying my daughter ‘girly’ things, or trying to make her into a boy. That’s not true. I just object to the narrow vision of girlhood that commerce presents us with. While I’m of the mind that any toy is girly if a girl plays with it, these Lottie dolls help with framing different interests as ‘girly’, presenting us with a group of cute little girls who enjoy science, karate, ponies, and pirates! If you ever need to prove to someone that robots, superheroes, and pirates, can be ‘girly’ too – then just show them Lottie.

The thing I really love about this collection of Lottie dolls is that they support and reinforce so well our approach to raising our daughter. Lottie’s cool and quirky collection of clothing reflects my daughter’s own diverse wardrobe. We hope Lottie’s range of interests will also be mirrored in our daughter as she gets older.

Pirate Queen Lottie Doll, Lottie Dolls, Lottie Dolls uk, Lottie Dolls Amazon
Pirate Queen Lottie

What’s our favourite Lottie? While I love anything that involves girls and superheroes, my joint top pick is Pirate Lottie. Society still tends to categorise Buccaneer iconography as a boy’s look, and this demonstrates that girls make awesome looking pirates too. My daughter likes dressing as one but doesn’t see many other girls doing that too. By simply playing with her Pirate Queen Lottie, she is reinforcing her confidence in her decision to dress up as a pirate too.

Being interested in science and technology. Dressing as a pirate and a superhero. These Lottie Dolls can help inspire a new generation of girls to claim these traditionally boy interests as theirs too, and aspire to reach for the stars or sail the seven seas. Or simply to be happy with whatever you choose to be. In fact, her motto is ‘Be bold, be brave, be you’.

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Disclaimer: While I was not paid to write this piece, we did receive all the featured dolls and accessories free of charge. 

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**You can purchase Pirate Queen Lottie here, and the Super Lottie Outfit Set here**