Star Wars Lego Does Well with Slave 1

For me the value in any toy is a combination of the wow-factor and the last-factor. The wow-factor is how thrilled the child is with the item from the moment he sees it. The last-factor is how long and how often they play with it.

WOW!
The Star Wars Lego Slave 1 was a perfect fit for the WOW factor, as he has wanted it for sometime now. Like almost every boy he loves legos and Star Wars. When you put the two together it is irresistable. I think I have to attribute his particular interest in this Star Wars lego (there are many) to playing his Star Wars lego video games. I guess lego does a great job marketing their brick and mortar toys in their virtual versions of the same.

In addition to the ship, the kit also comes with 4 characters. It not includes Boba Fett, but also a Bespin guard, Dengar, and IG-88. I don't understand why, but my kids love these characters sometimes more than the ships. So, this was a big plus. I guess now that they get to play the video game as each of these characters, there is a strong attraction to physically collecting and playing with each of the characters as well. To be honest, I do know who Boba Fett is, but have no idea who these others are. I was especially baffled by I-G-8-8. The first time my son shotgunned that at me I blinked a few times. I replied oooh, I-8-8-8-8, and he just laughed. I truely had no idea what he had just said. Of course, my ignorance of the subject only makes the toy that much more enjoyable.

Basically, this toy has plenty of wow-factor for any Star Wars Lego lover.

How Much Last...?

We were visiting family far from home, but of course he wanted to pull out all 537 pieces and build it as soon as possible. I expected it to take him several hours to put this together, which is one measure of last-factor, and I wasn't disappointed. He needed a little help here and there, but mostly just for some grown up muscle. At one point I had to pull apart something he had put together wrong and it was pretty tough. I glanced down at him with an exasperated look and he chomped the side of his teeth, indicating how he would normally remove the offending piece.

Once he got the toy together and fully functional, I was really impressed. It had several hidden doors with guns and missles and bombs behind them. The bombs really drop, and a missle that really fires, but the others are back to good old imagination. Of course after a few weeks of playing, I'm sure we won't be able to find the bombs and missle, and will be back to imagining all the interaction. Along with all the weapons, the pilot seat rotates with the ship to keep the pilot stablized inside. I believe this is how the ship works in the movies, so it was a nice touch.

Other:

My primary complaint/recommendation is regarding the directions. Everytime I came to help it seemed that something was amiss with the directions. I was having a hard time seeing what was supposed to occur from one step to the next. Then I realized that in these directions, they only showed how the part looked at the end of each step. Normally, there are parts lists for each step and some friendly shadowing to show where the parts go. These instructions were missing all of these clues, and so we were left playing the "what's different between these pictures?" game. Of course this just added to the challenge a bit, and therefore to the last-factor.


Since he just got the toy on Christmas, I haven't determined if this toy will make the list of regularly played with toys or not, but I'll update my blog later with those details. This Lego can be purchased at Target.com for about $50, which is significantly cheaper than other online locations.