This is going to shock a lot of people, but I was not a hardcore Star Wars geek as a kid. Oh, sure, growing up I could name every Ewok and Droid that Kenner made vintage figures of, but when it came to other people and vehicles in the Star Wars universe, I was a casual fan at best. The relevance of this is that I’ve never, in my entire life, owned even one toy of a Star Wars Imperial Shuttle. Crazy, right? But that 31-year streak is at an end! Last week, I picked up the LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle 30246 polybag? Was it worth my $3.99? Read on…

The Right:

Of all the vehicles in the Star Wars Original Trilogy, the Imperial Shuttle is the one that I’ve always felt the least motivation to own a toy of. The Imperial Shuttle is one basically just a transport ship that shows no offensive capabilities whatsoever in the movies (despite its mounted guns), and just sort of floats around like a big, oddly-shaped space taxi. But with a $3.99 LEGO 30246 Imperial Shuttle polybag staring me right in the face, how could I resist…?

I’m glad I did pick up the 2014 LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle set, as it’s quite nifty despite its small size. It’s also a great value–you’re getting 57 pieces for just $3.99–a super-low cost of just 7 cents per brick! It doesn’t get much better than that (especially when you’re talking about licensed LEGO Star Wars sets).

The set itself is a fast and easy build, just as you’d expect from a $4 LEGO polybag. It took me under 10 minutes to assemble the Imperial Shuttle, and I didn’t even make any mistakes while building it (which really is a rarity).

Once built, the 30246 LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle features the one defining trait of the Imperial Shuttle from Return of the Jedi: the ability to fold its wings upward when going into docking mode. This feature works smoothly, with the joints strong enough to hold the wings in any position.

The wings are also incredibly stable–I carried the set around in my pocket for about an hour while taking photos, and the wings never detached from the main portion of the set once (the same can’t be said for the large back fin of the ship, unfortunately).

I think it’s a really nice detail the way that LEGO has integrated the thrusters into the build for the 30246 LEGO Imperial Shuttle, as they’re represented by two translucent blue studs peeking out from the interior of the ship’s rear. Since the Imperial Shuttle doesn’t have a lot of natural eye-grabbing features, it was great for LEGO to engineer something clever like this detail.

Other aspects of this set that I really like are the three translucent yellow “lights” on the ship (one on the back fin and one on each wing) and the way that the front of the ship has been placed onto a hinge so that you can adjust it to get it into position for exactly the angle you want.

The Wrong:

It wouldn’t be one of my LEGO reviews if I didn’t find something to complain about, so I’m just going to come right out and say it: I hate the color of this 2014 LEGO Star Wars Imperial Shuttle set. Sorry, but it’s just way, way too bright-as-snow white to me. While my photos might tint the color of this set a bet, in-person the Imperial Shuttle’s bricks are super-bright-white-as-snow white.

I’ve seen Star Wars a, uh, “few” times, and I just don’t buy the notion that any Imperial Shuttle is this pristine, pure white. Off-white, maybe. Light gray, I’d definitely accept. But bright arctic white? No way. The bright white color of this LEGO Imperial Shuttle set really bothers me and distracts my appreciation of what’s otherwise a very nicely-done LEGO Star Wars 2014 polybag set.

Overall: LEGO has come very close to making what I would consider an idealized mini Imperial Shuttle LEGO set here. While I’m vehemently opposed to the pure white bricks LEGO selected as the primary color for this set, the build itself is cleverly-engineered and captures the aesthetic of the Imperial Shuttle surprisingly well in just 57 bricks. Those who can’t stand the color (like me) and kids who aren’t interested in a non action-oriented starship may want to pass on this polybag, but for everyone else, it’s unquestionably worth its meager asking price of $3.99. Recommended.

GRADE: B+