LEGO Star Wars 75532 Scout Trooper & Speeder Bike review

Speeding through the forests of Endor may be exhilarating, but does building 75532 Scout Trooper & Speeder Bike provide the same sensation?

Price: £49.99 / $54.99 / €54.99 Pieces: 452 Available: Now

The LEGO Group’s Star Wars constraction line is not exactly the darling of AFOLs, to put things generously. But even those who have completely disregarded the line, even such gems as 75112 General Grievous, took a second glance at 75532 Scout Trooper & Speeder Bike when it was unveiled on the toy fair circuit earlier this year.

LEGO System is something I grew up with, so I’ve always held a great love for it. Being just this side of an adult when Bionicle was originally released, it never appealed to me. It felt very ‘other’. After its death, rebirth, and eventual transformation into Hero Factory, its DNA has spawned a line of buildable figures. This line is an interesting one, as it sits curiously – and precariously – between Bionicle and Galidor. 75532 Scout Trooper & Speeder Bike adds a vehicle to the mix, bringing with it some elements of Technic. What impact does this additional ingredient have on the formula? Fortunately for Brick Fanatics readers, you don’t have to go all the way to Endor for the answer.

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Despite my lack of love for anything in any of the aforementioned product lines, I have to admit I was pretty excited when I first saw this Speeder Bike set. Both the Scout Trooper and bikes were among my favorite things in the Star Wars universe when I was a kid. I’ve held onto that love ever since, and the idea of a large scale speeder bike and rider was most intriguing.

My biggest problem with most of the buildable figures is the faces. Any of the characters with a human head look, well, creepy. The line is much more appealing when sticking to characters with helmets such as 75531 Stormtrooper Commander, or droids like 75120 K-2SO. That said, the Scout Trooper looks pretty good. The body is surprisingly poseable, and is a reasonable facsimile of the source material. In theory this would make it a good action figure.

One nice feature is the ability to holster the trooper’s blaster on his ankle. The problem with the figure however is that the joints aren’t especially strong, so it has a tendency to fall over when in dynamic poses. When placed on the bike it looks great and lacks the same stability issues thanks to the use of Technic pins on the hands and feet. The stability of the whole assembly can be problematic when trying to pose the trooper leaning to one side. Some small additions to the base will alleviate this problem, though.

As for the bike, this was initially the biggest draw of the set. The photos of it looked excellent, even if the stand seemed a little distracting. I tried not to let that bother me too much, as I figured you’d be able to remove the bike from the stand and give it a proper swooshing now and again. Then I started building. You begin the build with the stand, which was a bit of a red flag. My fear was confirmed as you start building the core of the bike around the stand. From that point on, the build is as interesting as a lot of other Technic sets. There a nice use of parts, with one of the new Speed Champions wheel rims used for the intake at the side of the bike, and masts used for the front booms leading out the front stabilizers. The bike itself is really impressive to look at, so long as you can ignore that base.

To add a play function to the bike, there is a spring loaded gun mounted underneath. It’s nicely integrated into the build, though the firing mechanism is an actual trigger. It is clear that you are supposed to hold onto the base like a pistol – this is quite uncomfortable for anyone who is not a small child. In the interest of lessening the running back and forth, there’s also a clip used to hold another projectile, located at the bottom of the base.

So while the build process is overall relatively satisfying, and the general appearance of the bike and Scout is pleasant, the problem of the base still sticks in my craw. I’m not sure why the designers didn’t engineer it to be removable. An acceptable alternative would have been making the Technic beams it uses clear, so as not to be so distracting. This wouldn’t seem like an immediate solution if not for 75191 Jedi Starfighter with Hyperdrive, which uses clear beams to support the assembly. If nothing else, they could have cast the beams in green, or some other color to keep it from looking like a part of the actual bike. Yes, I’m quite hung up on this issue.

Overall, 75532 Scout Trooper & Speeder Bike is a nice enough build, and for those for who the stand is not an issue, it is easily the best option in the buildable figure line. The price may seem a bit high, but at the same time, there’s a lot of plastic there. The trooper’s head alone feels quite substantial. A discount would make this an especially compelling purchase for fans of the Speeder Bike or buildable figures.

75532 Scout Trooper & Speeder Bike is available now from shop.LEGO.com. You can help support Brick Fanatics’ work by using our affiliate links.

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