Review: LEGO Star Wars 75311 Imperial Armored Marauder

Today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO Star Wars set 75311 Imperial Armored Marauder, a box of 478 pieces which allows us to assemble an armored transporter seen on the screen in the 12th episode of the series The Mandalorian.

Ce Trexler 906 Armored Marauder is actually a variant of the K79-S80 model seen in the Star Wars Rebels animated series and then in the 7th episode of the first season of The Mandalorian series. The device based on a toy invented by Kenner in the 80s was also present in the Battle Pack 75078 Imperial Troop Transport marketed in 2015.

The transporter shrunk a bit when converting to the LEGO format but overall it retains the aesthetic of the vehicle seen in the series. Almost everything is there and the designer has not sacrificed the playability and the space available inside.

Two miniatures can be installed with the fingertips inside the machine via the hatch placed on the roof, the pilot has easy access to the controls thanks to the two movable panels placed at the front, a shooter can be installed at the back and Greef Karga can stand on the roof.

Side hatches provide access to the interior space and store the two pad-printed boxes provided. Difficult to do better in a machine as compact as this one, the designer could have sacrificed some of these spaces without being blamed for it.

Four Stud Shooters are available, two of which are placed on the rear turret which is unfortunately not orientable on the vertical axis. The rotation of the element is however synchronized with that of the seat placed at the rear of the vehicle, it is an interesting function even if we can no longer really see the shooter when the rear door is closed.

The two side guns are foldable towards the cabin but they are mounted on a free axis which does not allow them to stay in place and they therefore tend to deploy as soon as the machine is tilted to one side or from the side. other. Nothing serious.

If you feel like you've already seen the two gray boxes somewhere, it's in the set 75290 Mos Eisley Winery marketed in 2020 that they made their first appearance in triplicate.

Overall, I think we get here a very honest interpretation of the machine seen in the series and the few features offered are enough to convince me that the designer took the file seriously. We take advantage of both the detailed exterior appearance of this armored transport and the few interior spaces, difficult to access for some but available.

The minifig endowment here is rather interesting even if at least one key character is missing from the sequence that inspires the product, the Mythrol.

We have Greef Karga in his uniform as Nevarro's administrative manager with impeccable pad printing, two Stormtroopers and an Artillery Stromtrooper. Greef Karga has only one face, the fault of a very short hair on the back which would eventually show the beard on the other side. The red area of ​​the torso and legs is roughly matched with the mass-tinted arms and the continuity of the tunic is almost perfect.

The Mortar (or Artillery) Stormtrooper only first appears onscreen in Chapter 14 (The Tragedy) of the series, so one might wonder what he's doing here. He could have been replaced by a Scout Trooper on his Speeder Bike to be able to really reproduce the chase seen on the screen and the minifig provided here would have been more useful in the set. 75312 Boba Fett's Starship.

The minifigure is well executed, it is consistent with how it looks on screen except maybe for the yellow patterns which in my opinion should be darker. The pad printed patterns on the back of the minifigure struggle to embody the bag loaded with ammunition carried by the soldier but LEGO compensates by providing a few parts and two white saber handles that do the trick.

The two Stormtroopers consist of elements available for several years at LEGO, the torso and the legs since 2014, the helmet since 2019, and the manufacturer adds a little diversity here with two new heads. Their presence does not seem essential to me in this box but everyone knows that a collector can never have enough Stormtroopers in his drawers.

This small set, which will be sold at the public price of € 39.99 from August 1, has, once is not customary, the merit of being attractive at least as much for the construction as for the figures that accompany it.

This is not always the case in the LEGO Star Wars lineup and this version of the armored transporter seen in the series strikes me as particularly successful because it manages to combine a very acceptable aesthetic with optimal playability. Too bad for the cast that accompanies the machine, with a brand absent and a little off-topic, but we will do with (or without).

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at July 17, 2021 next at 23pm. For newcomers, know that you just need to post a comment to participate in the draw.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.