scarif stormtrooper [40176] review

Scarif Stormtrooper [40176]

More Rogue One minifigures!

One of the freebies in the LEGO Force Friday II offers is the Scarif Stormtrooper [40176] polybag. It's free with any LEGO Star Wars purchase over £25. It's the second from the (hopefully long) series of interlocking Star Wars display sets. The first one is the rebel droid R3-M2 (which I previously made a review post). At first I thought the series was limited to droids, but we obviously now know that's not the case. The good thing about this is it opened a lot more possibilities!

Shoretrooper

For the minifigure per se, it appears that the one included in this [40176] polybag is a Shoretrooper Squad Leader, as identified by his sand blue stripe along the top of the chest plate and onto the shoulder guards. Another visual cue is the kama attached to the belt. This is in comparison to the Regular Shoretrooper (all sand-colored armor) in the Battle on Scarif [75171] set, and the Shoretrooper Captain (mostly sand blue-colored chest plate and left shoulder guard) in the TIE Striker [75154] set.

Unmasked

The minifig head is the standard Stormtrooper head with black eyebrows, cheek lines, chin dimple, and a grimace expression. The Scarif Stormtrooper is equipped with a blaster rifle built by attaching a prismatic binoculars to a ribbed spacegun.

Backdrop & Stand

The backdrop and stand is almost identical to the one from the R3-M2 [40268] polybag, with the exceptions of gray connector pegs and a Scarif scenery. Of course, there's the sticker label announcing what kind of Stormtrooper he is. It's just a bugger that his rank was left out.

Scarif Stormtrooper

Overall, I am very happy with the Scarif Stormtrooper [40176] polybag, and, as I said before, the possible direction this line may go. (Can you give me my LEGO Lothcat now?).

LEGO force friday II experience

Force Friday II
(Photo grabbed from: LEGO Store Promotional Material)

Force Friday II is here and LEGO has a lot of force-filled goodies for brick fans from a galaxy far, far away...

For some reason, LEGO UK waited until the last minute to announce their Force Friday II (weekend) offers, but it's so worth the wait. Unfortunately, I was working (and not to mention exhausted) the past few days so a timely announcement post is not feasible. My sincerest apologies. Let me just give you an account of my wife and I's Force Friday II experience.

To continue celebrating 40 Years of Star Wars, and to further hype The Last Jedi (merchandise), 1 September has been marked as Force Friday II. Since the day wasn't declared a public holiday, the event was extended the whole weekend. And of course LEGO is a big part of this celebration, releasing new (huge) sets based on the upcoming film, with lots of offers and freebies to boast.

There are a few Star Wars sets on sale, mostly from the Rogue One collection, which are, by the way, retiring soon! VIP members will also receive triple points on LEGO Star Wars sets. Then for the freebies, there's a free First Order Heavy Assault Walker [30497] with any LEGO Star Wars purchase over £60, and a free Scarif Stormtrooper [40176] minifigure with any LEGO Star Wars purchase over £25! For more details, check out their official website.

Force Friday II Offers
(Photo grabbed from: LEGO Store Sept-Oct 2017 Newsletter)

But wait, there's more! Everything is just about to get massive with the official announcement of the biggest LEGO set ever, the Ultimate Collector's Series Millennium Falcon [75192]! Well, it only has a piece count of 7,541 (and a RRP of £649.99)! It's just a bit unfortunate that my local LEGO Store in Watford had some technical difficulties and was unable to display the model during the Force Friday II weekend (they're still the best, though). But the good news is, LEGO, being generous as ever, is giving its fans a chance to take home the iconic new set via its Launch Guide.

Launch Guide
(Photo grabbed from: LEGO Store Promotional Material)

At the back of the Launch Guide is a Galactic Pop Quiz, wherein there are five multiple choice questions. You can answer these questions by applying the green stud stickers on the space provided for. Please don't look for the green stud stickers in the sheet pictured above, they were already used before I got the chance to take a picture of it. After answering it (correctly), show it to a LEGO Store Associate to receive your Peel Card.

Scratch Peel Card
(Photo grabbed from: LEGO Store Promotional Material)

Unfortunately, our Peel Card said we didn't win but there is a consolation prize, an R2-D2 [30611] polybag (which I previously did a review)! I almost forgot, for LEGO VIP purchase of any Star Wars set, you'll receive a Millennium Falcon mini poster (a different one each day!). Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of these posters, I'll just make a separate post on this.

Are you wondering what my haul is this Force Friday II? It's the BB-8 [75187] set! I fell in love with this set ever since I saw it in the previews, and I'm sure I'll fall deeper once I've built it. 'Can't wait!

BB-8 [75187]

I think it's now safe to say that the LEGO Force Friday II is a huge hit among LEGO Star Wars fans, with a lot of new (and even old) sets being sold out in-store and being on back order online.

How about you? What's your Force Friday II story?

P. S. With the untitled Han Solo film being released on May 2018, I wonder if we'll be having Force Friday next year. I'm sure promotions will be big on May the 4th. Will there be anything left to celebrate come fall?

R3-M2 [40268] review

R3-M2 [40268]

The free LEGO R3-M2 [40268] minifigure will definitely make any rebel wannabe go rogue!

R3-M2 is the latest droid minifigure LEGO is giving away to brick fans from a galaxy far, far away. It is an astromech droid part of the Alliance to Restore the Republic from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. 

The promotion runs in the UK from 7 to 31 May with any LEGO Star Wars purchase. The offer is valid online at shop.LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores. Limited to one per household, and of course, while supplies last.

R3-M2

I don't know the reason behind this but the set is weirdly packaged in a softer polybag. If I haven't received it from a LEGO Store, I think I would doubt it as a knockoff or something. Other than that, everything else is perfect!

The R3-M2 minifigure comes with a cool transparent head, which at first glance looks chrome silver. As pictured above, the printed details, however, are kind of hard to see (sorry). The body's printing is somewhat similar to that of R2-D2's but with a brown theme instead of blue. 

Backdrop & Stand

The set also comes with a decorative backdrop, a sticker label, and a brick-built stand. The stand can be attached to another stand via a Technic connector peg piece. Could this mean there will be more minifigures, or at least droids to come? The film featured a lot of characters so this can be an exciting product line. Or it can go beyond the anthology film and pluck characters from the original and prequel trilogies. After all, Star Wars is celebrating a whopping 40 years!

Overall, I am very happy with the R3-M2 polybag, and the possible direction this line may go. But I still need to re-watch Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (already available on Digital HD, DVD and Blu-ray) and play Where's R3-M2?.

R3-M2 on Display

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UPDATE: Confirmed! R3-M2 [40268] is just the first set in this line! A Scarif Stormtrooper [40176] set with a similar display setup has been found in the wild! The minifigure is slightly different from the Scarif Stormtrooper and Shore Trooper in the sets Battle on Scarif [75171] and TIE Striker [75154], respectively. Maybe it outranked them because of the two gray sleeves, or maybe not. There's no word yet on how to obtain this polybag but I'm sure it won't be long. My bet is on Force Friday (or Rogue Friday or however they would want to call it this year).

Scarif Stormtrooper [40176]
(Photo grabbed from: https://brickset.com/sets/40176-1/Scarif-Stormtrooper)