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Set Review: 75171 Battle on Scarif
 Saturday, June 24th, 2017 at 1:15pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager[Source: Ta-metru_defender] Today, on the same day we're streaming live builds of most of the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story sets, we're also sharing a full review of one of them! BZPower Blog Assistant Ta-metru_defender has taken a look at 75171 Battle on Scarif from the second wave of Rogue One sets and has put together a complete package of photos, a video, and his thoughts on the model. Read on to check it all out and decide if this is a set worth risking everything for! It's time to steal some Death Star plans! The winter wave of Star Wars sets brings with it a playset, one based around the battle on Scarif. Hence, y'know, the name. Presentation
Behold! Battling on Scarif! It's a LEGO box, you know what it does. The front shows off the set in some spiffy dynamic moment, the back shows what it does, the top shows minifigs.
You know how it is. Building
There's nothing super remarkable about building the set. Nothing really sets it apart from anything else. It's straightforward, to say the least. But that's not the important part with this one. Set Design
First off, minifigs.
Battle on Scarif comes with four: Jyn Erso in Imperial disguise, Cassian Andor, and two Shoretroopers.
Jyn as a minifig is essentially the same as the Imperial ground crew 'fig we got in the TIE Striker, just with a different head underneath. Unlike in the U-Wing, we get a hairpiece for her this time, so you can have her without her helmet, standing in a circular corridor and dramatically turning towards the camera.
Cassian, however, is sporting the brown Alliance jacket he wore for most of the movie. It looks the part, down to the Captain insignia on the chest. It's a great torso piece that I'm sure will be useful elsewhere in custom 'figs. Both of them have alternate heads, though Cassian's is a little hard to spot.
Next up are the Shoretroopers. We got a Shoretrooper Captain in the TIE Striker, so it's good to see some soldiers for him to boss around. The repurposed Hovertank Pilot helmet here works great and is definitely evocative of the source. They look good and I'm game for a couple of specialized troopers to break up my army of white armor.
Now, the base itself is a playset. I'll come back to that in a moment, but in the meantime let's talk about how it looks. The titular Battle on Scarif makes up the land portion of Rogue One's incredible final act. What we see in the set is the landing pad where the Rebels land and start actively rebelling and the big door that contains the Death Star plans within. There's also foliage around the pad and a control panel with a switch that's a short jaunt from the front door. So the scale is a little off, the LEGO U-Wing and Krennic's Shuttle dwarf the landing pad, so it's kinda hard to imagine a Zeta-class cargo shuttle landing there. But, y'know what, it still looks like a landing pad. The stickers on the ground are a pain to apply right, but they really help sell the look. It looks good, is what I'm saying, and it's recognizable. Two points in the plus column.
There's some nice detailing in the bunker door, with control panels on one side and, on the back, more panels, spaces for guns, and the Death Star plans. I love that it's a tile; it's a cute, very LEGO way to represent them. Also it was used in the Droid Escape Pod from a while back, so good job with consistency. There's not too much going on elsewise, it's basically a fancy door that hides the Death Star plans. It does that well, so you can't really fault it for that.
The handful of plants are all simply built, but they go a long way to adding to the tropical feel of Scarif. The olive leaves in particular make it feel quite sunbeat.
We also get a cargo container, just like the ones for storing Kyber crystals that came in the Hovertank. On the one hand, why is this in this set? The Kyber crystals were for the Death Star, not Scarif. On the other hand, I like there being a cargo container for the playset, since the landing pad in the movie was littered with them. It also fills that gap in the hover tank set, but I do wish we'd gotten another big box or two in this set for our rebels to hide behind. One last thing before we move on to the fun part of this playset: Battle on Scarif is sturdy. You can pick it up and shake it and it doesn't come flying apart. I'm thinking of other playsets here when I think of this; the Battle on Takodana falls apart if you so much as grab it by the wrong spot. Battle on Scarif uses an impressive skeleton of technic beams to keep it all together. I like a playset that I can pick up and move, so that is definitely appreciated. Playability
And this is the fun part of the playset - the action features. All the play features in this set feel warranted, there's nothing that feels like the designers wanted to add something because they had to and were out of ideas. The best part is, though, that all of the set's play features create a narrative � the Rebels trying to get the Death Star plans.
At the front edge of the landing pad are a couple of beams. You twist them to the side and a drawer opens up, revealing an arms stash with blasters and thermal detonators. Sure, it doesn't line up with what we saw on screen, but it's fun nonetheless. It's a simple feature, and it doesn't hurt the set's overall integrity. Our Rebels, now armed, need a way to stop the Shoretroopers. Or cause a diversion. Either way, enter my favorite feature in the set. If you push on the technic beams, things blow up. Go to 3:44 in the video to see it in action. I'll wait.
Again, it's nothing too fancy, just a lever created by beams making some plates fly in the air. But heck if it ain't fun. This might be because, with the appropriate force, it doesn't just pop off but goes flying. Points in my book.
But remember what I said about there being a narrative here? Beneath these exploding plates are thermal detonators. It's a small touch, but it gives a reason for why the floor is exploding. Cheers, LEGO!
And now, we reach the Door. A Door which is locked. Unless you shoot/knock down the tower next to it. Basically, there's an axle that runs below the door with axle connectors on either side so that when the tower is up, the door's locked, when it's down, it can open. It's a spiffy little feature that gives the our Rebels one last obstacle before they can get the Death Star plans inside.
As far as sets go, Battle on Scarif makes for a great battlefield. You've goals and obstacles that encourage roleplaying which in turn is bolstered by little hints at narratives (again, there are detonators beneath the exploding function). There are also bushes to hide in, a container to duck behind, and a lever to switch. There's a lot to play with here. Final Thoughts
Look, the set isn't super movie accurate. Jyn and Cassian snuck in, they didn't go in shooting and exploding (that was the other team). The Death Star plans were high up in a tower, not just behind a door. The switch that needed to be flipped to let a transmission through was attached to a comms tower. But screw it, the set works. It's fun. Sure, I would have loved to have seen another Stormtrooper or a Rebel Trooper, but it's a solid playset that adds to the fun if you have any other Rogue One sets. It does feel a little small at $50, but I think the solidness of the build more than makes up for it.
I like it. I really do. Most playset-sets I get end up in pieces. Battle on Takodana lasted maybe a couple weeks. The Sandman Spider-Man set even less. But I'm keeping this one displayed. It's a cool one. If you liked Rogue One, grab it. It's neat. And that wraps things up for the Battle on Scarif - we hope you've enjoyed our review and have gotten some better insight into the set. Let us know what you think in the Talkback along with any questions you might have. I hear we'll have another set review up soon - one that constraction fans will surely be interested in. Until then, you can keep checking back on BZPower for the latest LEGO news!
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