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Set Review: 75524 Chirrut Imwe
 Thursday, February 16th, 2017 at 8:38pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager[Source: Ta-metru_defender] Today we're continuing our reviews of the new wave of LEGO Rogue One: A Star Wars Story buildable figures. Blog Assistant Ta-metru_defender has decided to take a look at 75524 Chirrut Imwe, one of the two Guardians of the Whills we meet in the film. (Does anyone else want to learn more about the guardians, or is that just me?) If you'd like to find out if this a set worth picking up, continue on to watch and/or read our review! Presentation
The Star Wars Buildable Figures line continues this year with more Rogue One characters, and I've got everyone's favorite blind warrior monk: Chirrut Imwe!
Front of the box says LEGO STAR WARS in case you had any doubt just what you were getting into. There's also a buildable figure logo with a ball and socket to double check. Then there's Chirrut firing his lightbow all dramatic-like while a blaster bolt misses his left foot. Looks cool, all said. The back has another view of Chirrut, plus inserts showing off the set's action features: the lightbow snapping open and its firing function. There's also inserts advertising the Shore Trooper and Baze Malbus. Anyway. Let's crack this thing open and put it together. Building
Chirrut comes together easy with a click and a snap. There's some fanciness to his skirt (which is wrapped around and hooked on to pieces on his back) and to his lightbow, but it's really not all that hard. Set Design
So, obviously, Chirrut's head is a new sculpt. It's a neat peace, providing a striking albeit stylized representation of Donnie Yen's face. Doesn't look quite as unsettling as a few of the other Buildable Figures, so hey! That's a plus! The other obvious new piece is his skirt, which works very well as one in this set. I suppose there's MOCing ability with it too. We also get a neat armor piece printed with the detailing on his gauntlet. There's also the bow part of the lightbow which is nice. The torso piece has unique printing, as does one of the shells. But anyway, how is he as a whole?
Chirrut looks good. Despite using a lot of pieces originally intended for (bio)mechanical robots, the set does a good job of creating a much more organic look. The small shells and mudguard on his shoulder/upper back and the skirt covering his legs go a long way towards this. LEGO's at the point where proportions and articulation are old hat, so there's not much beyond yes, Chirrut checks all the boxes.
The lightbow is a particularly spiffy piece of engineering. Y'know how in Rogue One it does the thing where it snaps open? The LEGO version does that too with the push of an axle. It's a neat feature that works well without compromising the weapon's overall look. Plus there's a spring-loaded shooter in there, woo! Chirrut's back holds an extra missile for the spring shooter, and it's nice that the set gives you a spot. But it feels like something else could be there instead... The astute among you will notice there is no staff. Yes, it appears that the buildable figure of Chirrut doesn't have his staff/walking stick/Stormtrooper beater-upper. It's an odd omission, given how prominent it is in the movie – more so than the lightbow, I'd argue. Minifig Chirrut got both, so why couldn't LEGO have sprung for the few pieces extra and give him something to thwack a buckethead with? Playability
You can make the lightbow fold in and out and fire the spring shooter.
Aaaaand that's about it for built in playability. I realize a gear function would probably throw off the organic look, so much as I wanna gripe about it, I won't. Not more than I have already, anyway. Also wanna say that I really do enjoy the spring shooter.
Thus there's roleplaying and poseability going for Chirrut, something he does plenty well. Of course, the lightbow, being a two-handed weapon, considerably restricts Chirrut's poseability when he's holding it. The grips are on a pin-axle, though, so it can spin in his hand and isn't that bad.
Removing his lightbow, though, lets you do what you will with him. Which means you can finally let him go Ip Man on something.
Final Thoughts
I do really like Chirrut. And not just 'cuz of Rogue One (though that does factor in to it), but because of how well put together he is. He doesn't seem gangly or poorly proportioned, everything works. The lack of a staff, however, is a glaring omission. These buildable figures live and die based on how much they evoke the source material, and Chirrut's staff is pretty darn important. It's inexplicable, which bothers me. But beyond that, he's a really cool set. If you like Chirrut and are into the buildable figures, you probably won't be disappointed by this set.
Thanks as always to LEGO for providing us with this set to review! We hope you enjoyed it, let us know what you think in the Talkback and thank Ta-metru_defnder while you're at it. We have one more Rogue One buildable figure to review for now, so keep checking back on BZPower for that and more LEGO news!
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