The Star Wars films are filled with iconic moments, particularly the first one. So it’s not surprising that two of the new LEGO® Star Wars Diorama Collection sets are inspired by A New Hope. This set is slightly different to others as it is microscale and doesn’t include any minifigures. But what it lacks in minifigures, it more than makes up for in detail. So does this diorama deserve a place in your Star Wars collection? Here’s my review of the LEGO Star Wars Death Star Trench Run diorama.
Product Details
Channel Jedi-like focus and recreate a memorable moment from Star Wars: A New Hope with this Death Star Trench Run Diorama (75329) building set. Capture a snapshot of that gripping scene in intricate detail, from the surface of the Death Star to the brick-built models of Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced fighter and 2 TIE fighters in hot pursuit of Luke Skywalker’s X-wing. Attach the plaque bearing Darth Vader’s words (“The Force is strong with this one”) to complete a nostalgia-inspiring centrepiece.
Delightful gift
This build-and-display model makes a super treat for yourself or a gift for other adult Star Wars™ fans and experienced LEGO® builders, and it comes with instructions to guide you through every step of the complex build.
The galaxy at your fingertips
It began a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Now the saga continues in your own home with LEGO Star Wars sets. Explore the stellar array of sets designed specifically for adults, including other new-for-May-2022 dioramas.
- Set Name: Death Star Trench Run Diorama
- Set Number: 75339
- Pieces: 665
- RRP: £54.99/$59.99/59.99€
- Number of Bags: Bags x 6 + loose elements
- Stickers: N/A
- Minifigures: N/A
- Instructions: Booklet x 1 + LEGO Building Instructions App
- Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail
The format of the dioramas is quite simple – a base and background which offers a slice of the action from an iconic moment from the Star Wars films. This particular diorama takes its inspiration from A New Hope and the Red Squadron’s attack run on the Imperial Death Star. Compared to the other two sets in the Diorama Collection, the Death Star Trench Run is a rather simplistic build. The base follows a similar design to the other sets, offering a nice consistency across the range as well as partly matching the style of the similar Darth Vader Meditation Chamber set and the upcoming Jurassic Park diorama. This includes the quote plates which consist of a printed tile featuring the LEGO Star Wars logo and Vader’s proclamation of the Force being strong with Luke.
Both the base and wall panel are built separately and connected together to create the backdrop of the diorama scene. As expected it features an awful lot of great elements. But this has been partly made a little more exciting by the use of various elements and layering to give the surface some texture. It’s basically the physical embodiment of the greebled banners found on the new ‘LEGO for Adults’ packaging. Much of the ‘features’ if you can call them that, appear to be a little random, with unusual collections of elements pieced together. In all honesty, that’s because they are, there’s no symmetry, no reasoning for them apart from looking like you’d imagine the surface of the Death Star would look.
Once the surface of the set is complete, the back panel slots onto the base and is then held firmly in place by both studs and a couple of axle pins. This creates the ‘L’ shape of the set, which gives it that displayable quality. The final bag adds the finishing touches to the scene including a turret tower, which sits over the randomly colours bricks in the base along with a squadron of Imperial ships on the tail of Red 5.
The ships have a similar style to the minibuilds found in LEGO Advent Calendars. Although they are not exact replications of previous microscale designs, they include a few tweaks to the format. For example, the TIE Fighters have clip plates to hold green transparent rods, which look like laser cannon blasts. One fighter is mounted on the base, via a transparent rod, while the other is mounted to the back panel. They flank Vader’s TIE Advanced ship. This has a different design to standard fighters and the use of standard and inverted angular slopes is super efficient for the TIE Advanced’s unique wing panels.
There have been many different microscale versions of an X-wing, it’s a feat on its own that they can all be so different. The one featured here includes aspects of some. One thing I appreciate is the sturdiness of the build. Some microscale X-wings can be a little fragile. That sturdiness helps the ship once mounted on a combination of a clear rod and a minifigure posing peg.
It’s a far simpler set compared to the Trash Compactor and Dagobah. But it’s nicely detailed and captures the action of that particular well. There are many different quotes that could be attained to this particular scene, “I have you now” or “Use the Force, Luke” are as iconic as the one they decided to go with. It’s an interesting diorama but in all honesty, I prefer the minifigure-scale dioramas. They just feel a little more fun. Yet in the same breath, these simpler scenes offer a cheaper price point.
Review Round-up
The scale of the set works nicely to capture a slice of the action from the attack on the Death Star. It may lack the excitement brought to the other two sets by the minifigures, but the mixture of elements to create the detailed surface of the armoured battle station looks great. I also appreciate that the overall style of the set is uniform to the others.
For
+ Unifrom design to other dioramas
+ Use of elements creates a detailed surface
+ Ship designs are familiar yet offer something new
Against
– Quite similar to the recent GWP sets
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This set was provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group or Disney. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
