LEGO® Star Wars review: 75271 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder

Ryan Welles returns today with a look at one of the smaller LEGO® Star Wars 2020 sets: 75271 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder.

LEGO® Star Wars has been around since 1999, coinciding with the release of The Phantom Menace, and the variety of possible subjects for sets has since become broader with every new movie or television series being released. Despite the incredible amount of new additions to the legacy, sets from the original trilogy have proven to be most popular.

This also explains the various iterations released of the same vessel, including the most recent entry, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder. First seen in A New Hope, the vehicle has seen a total number of four entries as a minifigure-scale set. The 2020 version, set 75271, comes with 224 pieces and is a further improvement of the similar set released three years ago, 75173 Luke's Landspeeder. It makes use of several new bracket pieces released in the meantime.

LEGO pieces in new colors found in the new Landspeeder

This Landspeeder does not contain any new pieces, except for Luke's poncho (assuming you consider a piece of cloth to be an actual LEGO element). It does contain several parts in new colors as well as a very rare and desirable part that turns up for a second time after its inclusion in the aforementioned Landspeeder from 2017.

The pieces cast in new colors are:

• Most excitingly, two Plates 1x10 in Nougat (6286497|4477).
• Arch 1 x 3 x 2 Inverted in Dark Red (Brick 1X3X2 W. Inside Bow – 6286506|18653), of which there are two included.
• Arch 1 x 6 x 3 1/3 with Curved Top in Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray (Brick 1X1X3 1/3, W/ Arch – 6286503|30935). You also get two of these and they get almost fully covered in stickers, unfortunately.
• Three Cones 2x2 Truncated in Nougat (6292981|98100).

Plate Round Half 4x8 in Nougat (6286501|22888) is also photographed as it deserves special mention since it is a rare colour for plates, and has only appeared in set 75173 before. You get two of these. Similarly, Cone 2x2 Truncated appeared in Dark Red only in 75173.

Minifigures in 75271 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder

Much of the value of Star Wars sets are the minifigures and even though you get three here, which is a considerable number for a £25/€30/$30 set, all of these have appeared before. But, if you compare it to the Landspeeder from 2017, you may find it disappointing that that set had an extra Tusken Raider, the Jawa replaced by Obi Wan Kenobi and an additional rat. As a trade-off, that set did have far fewer pieces though.

Most special is Luke himself. Even though his body parts have showed up in several other sets, what gives him a special look is his new tan poncho with brown outlines. It is made of a soft, flexible material resembling felt. Luke comes with two facial expressions.

3-CPO has seen several improvements throughout the years, but the version included here has been around for five years now. If you like collecting sets from a galaxy far, far away you probably have a whole stack of this neurotic protocol droid.

The inclusion of the Jawa is a rather lazy one, since it can be included in whatever is set on a desert planet like Tatooine. The Jawa we see here was introduced in 2018. It has a black head and two piercing yellow eyes coming from its hood.

Building the new LEGO Star Wars Landspeeder

Perhaps to justify its price, set 75271 comes with a cave-like hide-out. It would have been better if we got an extra minifig instead, since this is not much to write home about.

The build of the speeder itself is mostly straightforward, but it is delightful the designer made clever use of the new types of brackets that have been introduced in recent years. The result is a construction that contains a lot of ‘sideways building’. Placed on their sides, the grey arched 1 x 6 x 3 1/3 with Curved Top (Design ID 30935) perfectly line up with the round corner tiles below (27507). 

The side engines are built using Technic pieces. Somewhat strange is the placement of the two seats that are slightly offset towards the center, caused by their construction containing clips. Apparently on Tatooine they also drive on the left side of the 'road', judging by the position of Luke's steering wheel.

There are few functions, even though the central top jet engine can be rotated to allow access to a compartment containing Luke's binoculars. This makes the play value rather low, except maybe for that hideout thing that is included.

Conclusion

There is a common misconception that most LEGO Star Wars sets are just a bunch of grey starships. (And even when that is true, there seems to be a lot of color on the inside these days!) This set certainly bucks that trend with its Nougat plates.

Aside from a few minor flaws like the pointless hideout sub-build there is not much to complain about, although it is a bit overpriced. It would have been better if there were a fourth minifigure included, for example a Tusken Raider or maybe Luke's mother. Any set containing Nougat plates is always welcome though – especially if it introduces a new one!

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