9498 Saesee Tiin's Starfighter: it looks good ...

We could fear the worst when the first ultra-preliminary visuals of the box had been disclosed. This green, white, black, red, finally multicolored Starfighter did not thrill me more than that. The box Also featured minifigs of Saesee Tiin, Even Piell as well as the R3-D5 droid in drafts.

The models presented at the New York Toy Fair have undergone many modifications and I must admit that they already inspire me more. The red has been removed, and that changes everything. The Starfighter has a beautiful line, a successful cockpit, a silkscreen print on the fuselage which contributes to the dynamics of the ship, in short, I like it a lot.

Minifigs have also evolved significantly from the first visuals. We find the impressions in The Clone Wars sauce, we get used to it, and let's be honest, Even Piell and Saesee Tiin are very successful. Some will regret the slightly oversized appendages, but difficult to do otherwise. I note that on Saesee Tiin's minifig the head is printed all the way to the top of the piece, and we thus have guaranteed continuity of the screen printing with the appendix. Ditto for Even Piell.

Finally, the astromech droid R3-D5 is really nice. You never have too many droids in your collection and as soon as it's not yet another R2-D2, I'm always delighted ...

Once again, and while I am always inclined to publish preliminary visuals which rarely pay homage to the final rendering of the sets in question, I readily admit that you should never stay on a first impression and leave a chance. it is up to LEGO to finalize its products to offer us something successful. Which is the case here.