LEGO Star Wars #7665 Republic Cruiser Review

Theme: Star Wars
Name: Republic Cruiser
S/N: #7665
Year: 2007
Pieces: 919
Minifig: 5
Price: RM549.95, SGD-, USD89.99, GBP69.99

Box

I finally open the set after I kept it for around four years. The front of the box stated that this is a limited edition set. Other than that it shows the minifigs in the set together with their name. The top side of the box shows the actual scale of all the minifigs together with their name while the back shows the playability and advertisement for other Star Wars set.

Content

There are 15 bags of bricks in the box since the small bag are separately packed last time compare to the current one which they were put in the bigger bag. Together with the bricks there are two instruction books and four loose cone piece.

To view the instruction books, please click on the respectively: Book1 / Book2

Accessories

I'm quite happy with the accessories provided, they are sufficient for every single minifigs. We get blasters, lightsabers, and binocular.

Minifigs

We have Qui-Gon Jinn, young Obi-wan, Republic Captain, Republic pilot and R2- R7. They all got their torso printed on the front only, the back is blank. The captain and pilot just have different headgear, a cap and the other one with hair and both of them seems rather happy.

Escape Pod

The escape pod is design with two seat inside it. As a result it fits only two minifigs, guess the other three were unlucky and ready to die at any time. Anyway, the pod is nicely made. It close properly and it is quite steady when attached to the cruiser. There's no back or front for the escape pod since both of the ends have the same design.

Republic Cruiser

Is a limited edition cruiser and I do not expect to see another one in the future (hopefully) otherwise the word "limited edition" is meaningless. Is an iconic ship in Episode which were shown only for awhile and there goes, the droid blows it up. But still is a nice red ship which happen to be the father for Republic Frigate. ^^

The cockpit is small and there is a piece of printed part in there as the controller of the ship. So there at least have a little details in it. Inside the cockpit also covered with tiles and minifigs cannot be attach to the cockpit but is a good thing as you can adjust the minifigs to the right position easily to get it panel close.

The way of releasing the escape pod is different from the frigate. In this case, you have to push a pin right behind the cockpit and you have to use your hand to detach it because it the technic pin still will be in the way plus the binder that always pulling the cockpit back. I prefer the frigate way of releasing the pod as there is bo binder which will loose elasticity in the long run.

Moving to the compartment in the middle, you need to remove the panel to expose the interior. Both side of the compartment are different in design, one can be fitted with minifigs while the other is like storage compartment.

The side that can be fitted with minifigs has a printed monitor piece for the use of the captain. The compartment is quite narrow but I think it still have the use of it and have a playability in it. Good thing this set got no flick-fire missiles.

Moving to the storage compartment there is a storage box that were use to keep the accessories like binocular and blaster. Also there is this additional (small and simple) space speeder that were place in it.

Like I said there is a similarity in both the compartment, which is the extending blaster cannons. All you need to do is to push the button at the side to the front and the front panel will open up itself and reveal the blaster cannons.

The cruiser also have retractable landing gear and it work just like the one in the frigate. The steps of assembling the frigate is very much similar with the cruiser in most of the part.

Here's the handle for you to move the ship around. Unlike the one in frigate which is extendable and hidden when is not in use, this one is fixed there but it do not affect the look of the ship and the ship still looks good with it on.

Moving to the last playability that the cruiser has, the rotating sensor dish. I do like the design as there seems to so many dish here at the back and it make the ship looks more detailed. The sensor dish can rotate 360 degree and you can either just turn it or turn the yellow axle below the ship.

Extra pieces

Here's the leftover after the assembly process and is very much less compare to the new Frigate.

Completed model

I personally thinks this set really ease the burden of the designer that makes Republic Frigate, as the process of assembling the ship have a lot of similarity, and I felt bored when assemble it since I open assemble my Republic Frigate not long ago. However, I still like to recommend the ship to the collector since it is limited edition after all and very unlikely to reissue.

Playability: 5/10 Not much of a playability we got here other than rotating sensor dish and extendable blaster cannons.

Building experience: 6/10 I have to give this one a lower point since the Republic Frigate is more advance in payability.

Parts: 7/10 A lot of rare parts included here in red and dark red color.

Value for money: 5/10 The price is quite reasonable somehow since this set can be consider a large set.

Overall: 6/10 Lack of playability, but nice pricing, nice minifigs.