Review : LEGO Star Wars 75258 Anakin's Podracer (20th Anniversary)

Today we are interested in the LEGO Star Wars set 75258 Anakin's Podracer (279 pieces - 29.99 €), a reinterpretation, as indicated by LEGO in the official description of the product, the set 7131 Anakin's Podracer marketed in 1999.

Same collector's treatment for this box as for the other four sets of the 20th anniversary range with selective varnish on the packaging and instruction booklet with some facts about the 1999 set and the 2019 set. And 14 stickers.

A LEGO-style podracer is always a bit complicated. As the motors are only connected to the cockpit by two cables, a solution must be found so that the machine can be handled with one hand without breaking everything and LEGO has therefore chosen to place the construction on a support which is made fortunately more discreet in this new version than on the 1999 model.

Once again, the reference to the Anakin's Podracer set 7131 launched in 1999 serves only as a pretext to go back 20 years in the pages of the instruction booklet, the podracer delivered here is rather a variant of the model of the set 7962 Anakin Skywalker and Sebulba's Podracers marketed in 2011, a box in which LEGO had already replaced the slightly coarse sand-colored support with a set of transparent parts unfortunately connected to each other by pins that were much too visible.

As far as I'm concerned, I find both solutions equally unsightly and I would have preferred that LEGO found a way to connect the cockpit to the motors via two curved and rigid rods to provide a visually more construction. faithful to the concept of the machine. But everyone will have as usual an opinion on the subject and many will be satisfied with this transparent support which has at least the advantage of being discreet and of guaranteeing a certain playability.

The horizontal strip of the transparent support bends at the rear under the weight of the cockpit, some would say this is intentional but it is mainly because the foot is centered to support the weight of the engines. The effect will not be disturbing for everyone on arrival and the others will console themselves by saying that as in the computer field, "it's not a bug, it's a featurand".

Nice work from the designer on the engines, detailed enough for a model of this scale. If we compare them with those of set 7131, the evolution is obviously obvious. It is much less obvious if we take the podracer from set 7962 as a reference. Lightning bolts of energy transfer, a simple bar on previous models, are now embodied by the part already seen in many sets, delivered here in a very apt dark pink / purple colourway.

The minifig endowment here is roughly correct for a set sold € 29.99 even if Watto, Obi-Wan or even Jar-jar Binks would have been welcome, for example. We find the young Anakin in the version already present in the Microfighter set 75223 Naboo Starfighter with his torso and his head both unseen.

The detail that annoys me a little: The brown helmet delivered with Anakin has nothing to do there. This deceptively vintage choice is not a good idea, and the helmet from set 7962 with its patterns faithful to the film version seemed more appropriate to me.

Padme benefits here from a new (nice) torso and a new perfectly fitting rigid plastic hairstyle. It's pretty much true to how the character looks in the movie and the girl is also equipped with short, articulated legs without pad printing, a piece previously seen in the same color on Cho Chang and Neville Longbootom from the Harry collectible minifigure series. Potter (ref. Lego 71022).

This last detail is interesting, it helps to maintain a difference in size between Padme and Anakin without one of the two characters appearing either too big or too small.

However, all is not rosy in the land of minifigures: the photo above illustrates the recurring pad printing problem encountered by LEGO when it comes to printing flesh color (Flesh) on a dark surface: on the left on the minifig of Anakin the Flesh neck is correct while on the right Padme's neck is sickly pallor ...

Luke Skywalker's collector's minifig, just as off topic as Lando Calrissian's in the set 75259 Snowspeeder, completes the assortment with its vintage look and the special 20th anniversary pad printing on the back of the character.

Only the torso of the minifig therefore becomes unique and exclusive, the helmet was already delivered in a dozen boxes of the LEGO Star Wars range and the ultra-minimalist design head already dressed Luke's minifig that accompanied the book. LEGO Star Wars The Visual Dictionary (Updated & Expanded) marketed in 2014.

As I told you a few days ago, LEGO has planned a black 2x4 piece to assemble the supports that allow these collectors minifigs to stand out between them. This is not an extra room ...

In the end, I find that this set lacks a bit of ambition for a birthday box. In its day, the excellent set 7962 Anakin Skywalker and Sebulba's Podracers offered two machines and the possibility of reproducing the mythical Boonta Eve Classic view in The Phantom Menace. It's similar content that I would have liked to find in a collector's box referring to a moment of the saga that has become cult for many fans. As it stands, this podracer can only be confined to collecting dust on a shelf alone and that's a shame.

Note: The set shown here, supplied by LEGO, is included as usual. To participate in the raffle, simply post a comment on this article before April 21, 2019 at 23:59 p.m.. You have every right to disagree with me, this is not eliminatory.

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.

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