75079 LEGO Star Wars 2015 Shadow Troopers Set Preview!

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2014 was a tough year for the Star Wars Expanded Universe, what with Disney wiping virtually ever Star Wars book and video game ever made out of official Star Wars continuity. That move broke a lot of hearts and left a lot of characters out of a job in the Star Wars Universe. But LEGO is coming to the rescue as the new best friend of out-of-continuity characters in 2015, with a variety of Star Wars Expanded Universe sets. Continuing on in our look at the Winter 2015 LEGO Star Wars sets, today we’ve got the 75079 LEGO Star Wars Shadow Troopers set!

LEGO Star Wars Shadow Troopers 75079 Set Box

If ever there was a Star Wars palette swap made to print money, it’s Black Imperial Royal Guards and Black Stormtroopers. These were ideas that fans and artists had dreamed about for years, and then they became famous with the release of The Force Unleashed Video Game and their popularity really rocketed.

Sadly, The Force Unleashed has now been stricken from continuity, along with Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice (Galen Marek), the Shadow Guards, the Shadow Stormtroopers, and most everything else that made its canonical appearances in that video game series. I’ll light a candle for you, Force Unleashed.

2015 LEGO Star Wars Shadow Trooper Minifigure 75079But even though it’s not “official” anymore, LEGO will be honoring Star Wars The Force Unleashed in 2015 with an all-new Battle Pack! The LEGO 75079 Shadow Troopers set will include two LEGO Shadow Guard minifigures, two LEGO Shadow Troopers minifigures, and a little Shadow Transport Ship (that’s what I’m calling it–if there’s a bigger Star Wars nerd than me who knows an official name for this ship–the floor is yours).

Although LEGO previously released products from The Force Unleashed video game series, neither the Shadow Guard nor the Shadow Trooper have been captured in LEGO form before.

75079 LEGO Shadow Troopers Set Winter 2015 LEGO Star Wars

Note that these Shadow Trooper minifigures represent the dark grey Stormtroopers seen in The Force Unleashed and not the black Stormtroopers usually called “Shadow Stormtroopers” or “Black Hole Stromtroopers”. I might have preferred army-building more black Stormtroopers, but, well… then this set wouldn’t be from The Force Unleashed anymore (and we’d never authentic real Shadow Troopers), so I really can’t complain!

While the LEGO Shadow Troopers 75079 set won’t feature the multi-stud cannon gimmick that the Star Wars 2015 Geonosis Troopers 75089 and Star Wars Senate Commando Troopers 75088 sets do,  each Shadow Trooper minifigure contained in this set will still come with a stud-firing blaster (so the set isn’t totally gimmick-free).

LEGO 75079 LEGO Shadow Guard MinifigureThe LEGO Star Wars Shadow Troopers 75079 set is scheduled for released in January 2015, with small quantities likely to hit select stores in the weeks leading up to the holidays this year. Keep watch on the Bricks and Bloks Facebook Page to stay up-to-date, as I’ll be posting updates immediately as soon as any of the 2015 sets begin to be sighted in stores.

Are you pumped for the (perhaps final) LEGO Force Unleashed set, Star Wars fans? Or did you lose interested in characters from The Force Unleashed once it was erased from the Star Wars canon?

Comments

75079 LEGO Star Wars 2015 Shadow Troopers Set Preview! — 5 Comments

    • What set was a grey Shadow Trooper ever included in? I think you’re thinking of the black Shadow Stormtrooper Minifigure.

  2. The Bike looks like a two seater Orlean Patriot. Very common look of speeder bikes from the Old Repubclic, but that’s like 3000 years before Stormtroopers.

  3. I’m happy to get Shadow Troopers and a vehicle that is interesting, but like the Gunner Pack I am not to thrilled about two Shadow Guards. These guys are suppose to be even rarer that the Royal Guards. I believe it would have been better to go for Storm Commandos or something instead. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting set that would easily be bought up.

  4. Having bought and built the set today, I can say that I am not too pleased with what LEGO is doing. The padding of pieces for this set is astounding when looking at the minifigures first, then the number of studs, and then the vehicles itself.

    For the minifigures, there are two types: the Shadow Troopers and the Shadow Guard. The Shadow Troopers come in at 6 pieces each (Helmet, head, torso, legs, and a two piece “gun” with out ammunition). The Shadow Guard come in at 8pieces each (Helmet, head, torso, legs, cloak, and a three piece saber pike) Combined, that equates to 28 pieces for minifigures, which is okay (I honestly believe that one of the Shadow guard could be dropped for either an officer character or something else). 8/10

    Constructing the set is pretty clear and concise, which is a standard that LEGO achieves in practically all of the sets. In addition, the ease of building this set makes a good introductory set for young kids to get. 8/10

    The swoop, as it seems to feel, is not the most inspiring. A few of the red vents could have been replaced by 2 x3 flat piece. The flick fire missiles is also another gimmick that I am not a fan of. 7/10

    Unfortunately, I also have to add that there are ELEVEN (11) red studs, one of which gets used by the vehicle itself. That leaves ten stud for a gimmick that could be used to make the vehicle better. Compounding that issue is the fact that is over 10% of the pieces in the set. -1 over all score

    Overall, the vehicle is roughly below average. The Minifigs, such as the Shadow Guard, can be converted with some patience to the Royal Guard Champion (replace the arms of the Red Guard with the black arms and using the black legs come to mind immediately). The Shadow Troopers will help make this a good buy for people looking to have a Special Operations detachment. The vehicle can easily be cannibalized for parts, which can help other sets looking to be modified. 6/10