What LEGO Star Wars 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama hits – and misses

The upcoming LEGO Star Wars 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama shows off a dynamic scene from Return of the Jedi – but does it tick every box we were hoping for?

One of two new LEGO Star Wars dioramas arriving on May 1 (and available for pre-order now), 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama channels the classic 1999 set 7128 Speeder Bikes by recreating the thrilling high-speed chase on the forest moon of Endor.

On first hearing about this set, we had some ideas about what it might include – and now that we know what we’re actually getting, let’s take a look back and see if the finished set has managed to live up to any of our hopes and dreams.

5 – New Luke and Leia

The brand new Luke and Leia minifigures from 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama are a lot more detailed compared to their predecessors, giving something more than the fairly blank expressions we’ve seen in the past like Leia from 8038 The Battle of Endor. 

The new Leia seems to lean more on the 2015 version from 75094 Imperial Shuttle Tydirium, who has a much more expressive (and double-printed) face. And with both Luke and Leia finally having helmets, our hypothetical Health and Safety Officer we mentioned a while back can finally calm down.

Strangely enough, and as some fans have already commented on, neither Luke nor Leia have ponchos, and while some may see this as a good thing in terms of display value with an 18+ set, it’s not like ponchos haven’t been done before in the LEGO Star Wars universe.

4 – Accurately-sized speeder bikes

As we somewhat expected, 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama only comes with two speeder bikes, and while their tilted angles on the set give some visual interest, we can’t help feeling that even one more could have been a great addition. Given the size constraints it does make sense that some elements would have to be sacrificed, but it’s still a bit of a shame that only two could be added. 

On the plus side, the two bikes we have do look to be the most accurately-sized to date, and definitely the most detailed – a fact probably aided by the 18+ tag on the box.

3 – Tall trees

While 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama has a wide variety of leafy detail for Endor, the two trees from this set aren’t quite big enough here to give a real sense of the height and depth of the forests. We do have plenty of detail on the top of the trees, but it perhaps would have been nice to make them just a little bit more imposing, especially as the set is mostly intended for display.

2 – Dual-moulded Scout Troopers

The sole Scout Trooper that comes with 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama has completely black arms. While this keeps in line with some of the more recent Scout Troopers that we’ve seen, dual-moulded arms would have really given this set something fresh and new. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to have to wait a bit longer to see a Scout Trooper design that’s just a bit more accurate to what we actually saw in the 1983 film.

1 – Moving Speeder bikes and a sense of speed

While (as predicted) the two speeder bikes in this set don’t seem to move, we do get something of a sense of speed with the aforementioned tilt of the display. However, something still seems to be lacking – and with the combination of the not quite tall enough trees, the two speeder bikes, and the lack of motion, the set almost feels a little bit too still to represent a fierce chase.

Despite a few under-explored elements, 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama is still a solid display model that does give us some great detail, as well as two brand new minifigures of some very beloved characters. If you like the look of it, you can pre-order your copy now ahead of its May 1 release.

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