I’ve gone through quite a few Star Wars phases in my life, and as such, I’ve owned just about every Star Wars vehicle every in some toy form or other. But one vehicle that I’ve never previously owned before finally claimed me for the first time this month. I ordered the new LEGO T-16 Skyhopper set as soon as it went up for order specifically because I wanted  the new Tusken Raider–but to my surprise, I really like the ship itself! Is the LEGO Star Wars T-16 Skyhopper 75081 set one of the most underrated LEGO 2015 sets?

The Right:

I’ve never really felt any attachment to the T-16 Skyhopper vehicle (not even after it was added to the end of Return of the Jedi in the Special Editions), so I wasn’t especially intrigued when its name came up on the LEGO Star Wars 2015 set list. But then word leaked out that the set would feature the first new LEGO Tusken Raider minifig in eons, and I knew that I’d soon be picking this set up.

And lo and behold, it actually ended up being one of the sets I pre-ordered and received even before its official release date of 1/1/2015! Thanks, Amazon!

At 247 pieces for $24.99, the 2015 LEGO T-16 Skyhopper is almost perfectly at my 10 cents per piece sweet spot, making the set a solid value for LEGO consumers. I had anticipated the set taking me about half an hour to build (I’m a slow builder). Instead, it took me almost a full hour to build the set and apply all of the stickers (more on those later).

The 75081 LEGO Skyhopper build seemed to be pretty monotonous while I was doing it. I’ve never been big on sets where you have to shove in lots of LEGO rods, and building the fin on this set requires you to do so over and over.

But a weird thing happened as I approached the end of building this ship–I realized I was having fun. The build for the T-16 Skyhopper LEGO set is actually very different than any build I’ve done for a while in LEGO Star Wars–especially for sets in the lower price range like this one.

With its huge fin and unique swiveling cockpit doors, I ended up really enjoying how fresh this set feels compared to the number of rehashed Snowspeeders and Jedi Starfighters I’ve built in the last half-decade.

Two minifigures come with this set, and both are major upgrades over their earlier releases. First, we’ve got a LEGO Skyhopper Pilot minifigure. The Skyhopper Pilot figure has nice deco printed on his helmet, printing on both sides of his torso, and a reversible head (with his visor down and a resolute look on one side and his visor off and a grin on the other).

For a generic pilot, this is actually a really nice minifigure. He also comes with a blaster gun in case he needs to scare off some unruly aliens near his ride. And speaking of which…

After not appearing for thirteen years, LEGO has finally deigned to give us a new Tusken Raider minifigure! This figure is outstanding, with a brand new molded headpiece, printing on both sides of his torso, printing on the front of his legs and an all-new gaderffii stick accessory.

Given all the Tatooine-based sets LEGO releases, it’s about time we finally got a new Tusken Raider to hang out with Jabba and the Jawas! The LEGO Tusken Raider figure can hold his stick two-handed (although not two-handed and over-his-head, due to the limitations of LEGO minifigure articulation).

There’s one other figure included in this set, although it’s not a person–it’s a rat. We’ve seen this LEGO rat figurine before, but this is the first time we’ve seen it specifically as a LEGO womprat!

I don’t know what kind of sadist Luke Skywalker must be to want to shoot down little rats with a starship’s blaster cannons, but if that’s his intent, he’ll be able to do so thanks to LEGO thinking to give us our own LEGO womprat figure in this set!

The Wrong:

As I was saying, I like LEGO 75081 a ton more than I was expecting to–but that doesn’t mean that the set is perfect. They’re not deal breakers, but the 2015 T-16 Skywalker set definitely has its flaws.

The red spring-loaded missiles that fit into the T-16 Skyhopper’s wings work terrific and shoot powerfully–but they look awful. They stick way out of the back of the wings, and instead of having a trigger mechanism somewhere, you have to nudge the missiles themselves to shoot them. Both aesthetically and functionally, the missiles in the 75081 T-16 Skyhopper are pretty disappointing.

In addition, I was really frustrated to see that the new LEGO Star Wars 2015 T-16 Skyhopper includes zero printed bricks on the actual vehicle itself. Every single bit of detailing on the ship is added in the form of a sticker, which is quite a let-down after the first few LEGO 2015 sets I built this year had no stickers at all.

The red stickers that partially fit over grey bricks on the fin to continue a wide red stripe look particularly bad, although many of the stickers are visibly quite jarring.

Finally, it’s a real disappointment that LEGO decided to make a new LEGO Tusken Raider minifigure after so many years, and they only put one in a $25 set. Army-builder minifigures are a great incentive to sell multiples of sets, but I don’t imagine there are too many folks out there who are keen to own a whole fleet of LEGO Star Wars T-16 Skyhoppers.

Huge thumbs down on picking this set to include a solo army-builder in, LEGO.

Overall: I like the 75081 LEGO T-16 Skyhopper far, far more than I expected to. The new LEGO Tusken Raider minifigure is terrific, the build for the set was surprisingly interesting, and I love the look and style of the clear doors.

On the downside, the spring-loaded missiles look funny sticking out of the sides of the wings, I outright hate that the T-16 Skyhopper has a ton of stickers and no printed bricks, and the lack of a second LEGO Tusken Raider figure is a real bummer.

I purchased this set exclusively because I wanted the new Tusken Raider minifig, but I find myself really enjoying the whole LEGO T-16 Skyhopper 75081 set, despite its flaws. This set falls short of being a standout, but it is solid and earns a recommendation.

GRADE: B