More LEGO Star Wars fun with my daughter this week as we built another new set, the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium.
Firstly, a confession. I’ll admit it. The reason why we selected this particular set for review was because of one of its smallest elements – the Princess Leia minifig.
(As you can see, we also have Sabine, from another soon to be reviewed set.)
This is not to put down this LEGO Star Wars set by any means. But we have wanted a Leia figure for some time (that WASN’T in her ‘slave’ outfit) and we’re stoked to finally have one. My daughter was so desperate for one she started making up her own from what we had, creating brand new adventures for her too. Now we have one, sporting a rather cool if fragile looking camouflage poncho.
As well as a LEGO Princess Leia in her Endor outfit, you also get Han Solo & Chewbacca, plus two similarly attired Rebels. Accessories include the usual guns (Chewie gets his crossbow one), some thermal grenades, plus what appears to be cake – presumably the food Leia offers to Wicket the Ewok in the movie.
This is the latest in a line of Imperial Shuttle LEGO sets, but is the first one to include the rebels, and is taken from the scene in Return of the Jedi when they attempt to sneak onto the moon of Endor to sabotage the force field protecting the under-construction Death Star.
The build took us a few sessions of an hour or two, with my 3-year-old daughter helping me out with this age 9+ recommended set. I can see why the age is relatively high, as this is an intricately engineered model, with hinged ramp and cockpit plus fold up wings and doors in the cargo section.
It also features fold-out guns and fireable rockets/torpedoes – the set comes with (or at least ours did) much needed additional spares. It also has retractable landing gear, which is cool but we have found to be a little temperamental.
While the dominant white colour scheme is not reflective of the colour of the ship in the movies, it makes for a more eye catching model, that is visually different from our other grey Star Wars sets.
Being a vehicle, to me it lacks the full on creative storytelling led playability of the Death Star Final Duel set, but my daughter still loves opening the doors, ramp, landing gear – and of course firing those missiles! It has prompted many creative play sessions, involving new adventures and scenarios.
While I found the Imperial Shuttle to be one of the less interesting craft in the movies, as a LEGO Star Wars model it looks great. It’s still one of the iconic ships of the original trilogy, and adding these classic minifigs to your LEGO collection is a nice bonus. My daughter and I had fun building it, and a great time playing with it too.
The LEGO Star Wars – Imperial Shuttle Tydirium (75094) has a RRP of £79.99, but please see below for your chance to win one.
** This giveaway is now closed, but the LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle Tydirium set (75094) can still be purchased here **
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I think it’s important for boys and girls that female characters such as Princess Leia are included in merchandise like this. What do you think?
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Disclaimer: While I was not paid to write this piece, we did receive the set reviewed free of charge. All opinions remain ours.
Man vs. Pink 
I have two boys who love Lego I also have a little girl she is nearly 3 but she plays with her brothers toys and they play with hers – I think its nice to have the best of both
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Absolutely 🙂
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Absolutely for sure!
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i used to play with cars when i was little, i think kids should be able to choose whichever toys they prefer. x
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Absolutely important!
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I completely agree. As a child my brother and friends all played Star Wars, and had Star Wars figures – all I had was Leia. I had to be Leia. when playing outside, and wasn’t even allowed to use the ewok figures in my dolls house. (Which, incidently became a spaceship too) I attribute this experience to my becoming a huge Buffy fan as well as becoming a feminist 🙂
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Nice one 🙂
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I think that it is good if girls & boys can have the same interests.
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Kids can play with whatever they want regardless of gender. There are no gender specific toys, it’s 2015 for goodness, pink for girls and blue for boys is outdated and archaic.
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I think it’s so important. If they’re not included, girls will grow up thinking that they shouldn’t play with ‘boy’ toys. This manifests itself in a lack of female scientists / engineers later on.
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Totally – I hate all these gender themes toys – pink kitchens etc, it’s just nonsense. Hopefully boys will play with Leia as much as the others!
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Definitely. My daughter identifies with female characters and figures more, it also says ‘it’s okay to play with this’ to her. She has a brother only 13months younger than her so they are very close and play together all the time. Lego is a favourite of theirs.
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as a mum of 5, 3 girls and 2 boys who have all loved lego then yes i agree that both sexes should be included in the lego range
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Absolutely
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Star wars is for all male and Female fans, so why not make the toys for both girls and boys.
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My girls play with whatever they want, some days it is dolls and others it is cars. I leave it up to them
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Absolutely!!! There should be both sexes in there without a shadow of a doubt. Looks like a super lego set – thanks for a fab giveaway 🙂 xx
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of course 🙂
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I agree! My grandson pushes his Mr tumbles around in a little blue buggy and has a play tea set. He has two female cousins his age and is constantly dressing up and playing with their toys. Toys are toys all kids should be able to play without this gender specific nonsense
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Yes, absolutely.
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I think children should play with whatever they like, it’s how they build their individual characters by experimenting. LEGO is a great all rounder for everyone as it helps coordination, builds concentration and is great for those budding imaginations xxx
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Yes, my little boy likes playing with Wildstyle just as much as Emmet
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Absolutely for sure!
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I agree, I have all 3 boys but they enjoy playing with female lego minifigures as well as males 🙂
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Absolutely, as long as they are not dressed in pink!! My youngest son started school this year, and it is sad to see him start to think there are some toys he shouldn’t play with or colours he shouldn’t wear because they are too girly. Love Lego because it is (with the exception of the ‘Friends’ range) so unisex and can really be enjoyed by both boys and girls (and parents too!).
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To be honest, I don’t think the gender is important but really the type of characters portrayed.
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I agree completely – I have a boy and a girl and their toys are very much shared x
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a true Jedi can play with any Star Wars toys – use the force and make them buy you the toys
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Totally agree.
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I think so too, most children want to play with both usually anyway! 🙂
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I dont think children should be restricted to boy or girl toys – there should just be toys and they should be allowed to pick and choose what they want to play with – lego is great (as are megablocks for smaller kids) as it doesnt generally differentiate between boy and girl lego its just lego 🙂 I think included princess leia is great shes an important character in star wars so any fan young or old boy or girl would want her to go with the shop 😀
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yes I agree both boys and girls should play with any toys they want.my son used to play with his sisters buggy when they were younger and his sister used to love hot wheels
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Oh yes, we find that ours love to play with all toys, there should definitely be female characters in these things as females are heros too!
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I completely agree.. she’s a central figure in the movies, so i’ve never understood why she’s not in much of the promotional items it seems bizarre.. it shouldn’t be just for the girls either. she should be there on her own merit as a character from the movies. and boys should be taught that this is normal!
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I agree
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Yes my daughter loves the girl characters in lego
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Absolutely. Princess Leia is a strong female character and role-model, except for kissing her brother
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