Made available through Meijer, the Mid West-based big box chain, in the USA and at LEGO branded stores in Europe and Australia during the first few months of 2021, this first polybag of the year is a cute version of the larger 75302 Imperial Shuttle that is due out next week, and was presumably produced to promote it – even though it came three months too early.
This isn’t the first Imperial Shuttle – the family tree of this popular Imperial multi-purpose transport goes all the way back to 2001 (7166 Imperial Shuttle) and has been revisited a further six times after that, including the masterpiece 10212 Imperial Shuttle, which came out in 2010, the Mini-scale 30246 Imperial Shuttle and a micro-scale version in the 2014 Advent calendar. We’re all just waiting on a Microfighter version now.
Priced at $4.99, this latest Imperial Shuttle is made of 85 pieces, which is a dollar more expensive than the first Mini-Scale version – but has 28 more elements.
What you do get is a fairly accurate copy of the transport that was in both The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition) and Return of the Jedi, and used by the Empire to ferry dignitaries and the Rebel Alliance to deliver their team of commandos to the Sanctuary Moon.
The characteristic trihedral foils, elegant design, and drop-nose cockpit are all captured well enough though the lack of any landing legs means that the flight deck has to be tilted upwards when the spacecraft is on the ground. And that’s the only downside of this model.
At this scale, you’re not going to get any play features or any amount of detail, but that’s OK because these impulse buy sets are perfect snacks for LEGO fans who are still hungry after their Winter entrée and need something to keep them going until the main Spring course arrives in a couple of days..
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