LEGO Star Wars 75204 Sandspeeder review

75204 Sandspeeder swoops in from leftfield to offer a new take on an old and perhaps overly familiar LEGO Star Wars classic

Price: £34.99 / $29.99/ €39.99 Pieces: 278 Available: Now

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking 75204 Sandspeeder is nothing more than a recoloured snowspeeder, a vehicle we have had more than our fair share of releases during the LEGO Star Wars era. However, this brick version of the T-47 airspeeder has enough about it to not only make it a unique LEGO set, but one that is also worthy of joining your LEGO Star Wars collection.

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Having released what seems like 65 snowspeeders over the course of the last 18-and-a-bit years of LEGO Star Wars, the LEGO Group now has the shape of the T-47 down to a tee, and it is that same weird, complex geometric shape that also makes up the sandspeeder, and is expertly recreated in 75204. However, it is done so with some slight upgrades on previous LEGO snowspeeders, both in aesthetics – such as the additional vertical winglets – and in design. For the latter point, the wings are now connected to the body in an angled fashion, whilst the cockpit opens up at two hinged points as usual, but with the back hinges also revealing a much-needed compartment space for each minifigure pilot’s blaster.

There’s not much more to add to the design of the vehicle – this is the LEGO Group trying to perfect a construction that is already perfected – but the designers have had fun with a little bit of expression, to help turn what would be a snowspeeder into a sandspeeder.

In person the tan and dark tan colour scheme translates much nicer than perhaps imagery would show, whilst it also makes for a more pleasing appearance than the orange that Kenner’s 1986 prototype was pitched to Lucasfilm in. Meanwhile, the piece of rockface and moisture vaporator help set the scene and give a highly swooshable ship something to swoosh at and around, which can never be overestimated.

The minifigures receive just as much attention to design as the rest of the set, with the typical X-wing or snowspeeder pilot’s uniform recoloured to a light grey base detailed with dark grey and dark tan. Two further intricate helmet prints coupled with respective double-sided heads help to create two unique minifigures that look right at home in amongst the rest of your LEGO Star Wars collection.

Indeed, in an era where we are perhaps a little sick of seeing LEGO snowspeeders, 75204 Sandspeeder is a refreshing take across the board on what is still – in spite of our jokes at how often we’ve built it – a classic, expert design. For the price, there is better value to be had in this set than in any of The Last Jedi’s tie-in releases. A new LEGO Star Wars vehicle, just about canon, and a well-timed surprise for those perhaps suffering from sequel trilogy fatigue.

75204 Snowspeeder is available now at shop.LEGO.com. You can help support Brick Fanatics’ work by using our affiliate links.

Author Profile

Rob Paton
As one half of Tiro Media Ltd, I mix a passion for print and digital media production with a deep love of LEGO and can often be found on these pages eulogising about LEGO Batman, digging deeper into the LEGO Group’s inner workings, or just complaining about the price of the latest LEGO Star Wars set. Make a great impression when you meet me in person by praising EXO-FORCE as the greatest LEGO theme of all time. Follow me on Twitter @RobPaton or drop me an email at [email protected].

Rob Paton

As one half of Tiro Media Ltd, I mix a passion for print and digital media production with a deep love of LEGO and can often be found on these pages eulogising about LEGO Batman, digging deeper into the LEGO Group’s inner workings, or just complaining about the price of the latest LEGO Star Wars set. Make a great impression when you meet me in person by praising EXO-FORCE as the greatest LEGO theme of all time. Follow me on Twitter @RobPaton or drop me an email at [email protected].

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